ar+d
Paredes/Pedrosa	Town hall	Valdemaqueda, Spain	December 1999
Photographers A. L Baltanás + E. Sánchez A small town hall in Spain intended to give new life to its community. Click on image to view larger version in new window
Valdemaqueda is a small and (for Spain) a traditionally rather scattered town which faces south under the almost untouched flanks of the mountain range to the west of Madrid. Its square, the Plaza de España, was flanked to the south by a field which fell away by about 2m. This was the site of the new town hall, designed to complement the plaza and make it a more generous space (up to now it has been little more than a widening of the main street). In plan, the new town hall is divided in two, linked by a light-filled glazed foyer which offers access to both halves. On one side is the town’s assembly hall, and on the other is the three-storey office block which houses the small band of Valdemaqueda’s municipal servants. The north front, facing the square, is intended to be welcoming yet appropriately formal. On the south side, the building opens to the pine-covered landscape. Perhaps the most striking thing about this civilized little place is its scale, which reflects on that of the town as a whole, where the grain is given by individual and occasionally joined-up houses. Yet the town hall is not trying to look like a house, nor even a cluster of them. Its concrete structure is clearly expressed and the colours and materials of infill carefully chosen to relate to tradition without copying. On the south are Bernardos slate and grey steel. To the north is concrete and iroko against the square. Inside, the concrete structure is painted white and complemented by plasterboard partitions; there is a terracotta-coloured linoleum floor, and touches of varnished wood, as for instance in the treads and rails of the stairs. We liked the scale, simplicity and thoughtfulness of the town hall, but refrained from giving it first prize because the design includes remodelling and repaving the Plaza de España, which has not yet been done. When it is, Valdemaqueda will have a town centre to be proud of. Architect Ignacio García Pedrosa and Angela García de Paredes Photographs A. L Baltanás + E. Sánchez