The regional government of Castilla La Mancha launched a competition to build a day centre and residence for people with brain damage. ESTUDIO AIA was the winner of the contest.

The project is presented as an architectural solution consistent with constructive, economical and uses sustainability, optimizing construction and maintenance costs while betting on energy sustainability by including active and passive bioclimatic principles in the design, optimizing facilities.

The rationality of the facilities and energy efficiency. Passive bioclimatic principles.

UNIVERSAL accessibility. The building goes further by presenting itself as an example of applying the concept of UNIVERSAL ACCESSIBILITY in which absolutely all rooms are accessible, (positive discrimination of the third sex (the icon of the disabled) disappears).

Functionality. Correct resolution of the functional programmatic conditioning factors, taking into account the autonomy and the intimate simultaneous relationship that they must maintain between the residence and the Day Center.

Building with easy interior orientation. The user must be able to identify the place where they are and orient themselves within the building to develop their capacity for self-sufficiency and self-esteem without requiring help from anyone. Rationality in the approach of the circulations and in the functional relationships within each of the dependencies that make up the building.

Light as a generator of architecture. The sequence of patios capturing light depending on its intensity and colour of the time of year and time of day. The screening of light through the parasols or awnings, the large tectonic skylights of the central space of the Day Center, etc are the elements that “work” light and make it the protagonist of the architectural space.

Architecture as a stimulus for the senses. Along with light, water, colour and gardening, they must be elements that must collaborate in stimulating the five senses.

Integration into the environment. The building has been presented to residents as a friendly building to be apprehended as “their home”, in addition to maintaining its presence as a significant building in the neighbourhood. It responds to a flat plot with minimal street frontage between party walls.