Public Library in Villanueva, Colombia by Meza + Piñol + Ramírez + Torres

The Villanueva Public Library in Colombia is one example of sustainable buildings which translates as the the resourceful result from the use of local materials, local workforce, economical restrictions, climatic particularities and a projected low maintenance. Previously, the architects should began with a strong urban spatial proposal, dressed in a minimal handcrafted technical solution.

Rational program of the building consists of two different compact volumes, one houses the public library in the second floor and the complementary program in the first floor (theatre, kids library, administration offices, work spaces, bathrooms), and the other volume shelters a public corridor-plaza.

Each of these volumes is built in separate techniques and materials, one in stone gabions (taken under permission from a nearby river) and the other one in pine wood (taken from an ecologically controlled planted forest). In the middle, five metallic white lattice boxes group the program, allowing the air to run though and also creating an open atmosphere where you can see both the wood and the stone.

The final outside image renders a monumental project given its scale in the context, but a the same time a down-to-earth sort-of craftsmanship result, an hommage to local made-by-hand objects for the daily life, in short, a minimal tropicallized modern building built for/out of the site.

Architects: Carlos Meza, Alejandro Piñol, Germán Ramírez, Miguel Torres
Collaborators: Andrés Rodríguez Cabra y Diana Pizano
Client: National Ministry of Culture, Casanare Government
Graphic design, logo & artwork: Santiago Piñol
Site Area: 2,500 sqm Constructed Area: 1,551 sqm
Photographs: Nicolás Cabrera, Alejandro Piñol