Palacio de exposiciones y congresos “Vegas Altas” en Villanueva de la Serena

Resumen

For the new Conference and Exhibition Centre "Vegas Altas" in Villanueva de la Serena (Badajoz ) there was s a public competition that was won by De Villar - Chacon Arquitectos + Pancorbo Arquitectos. Mecanismo Ingeniería developed the Structure Project and performed the Technical Assistance to the Site Management during construction. The building consists of an underground ring with an emerging concrete “cube” of about 18x18 m and 20 m high that hosts the main auditorium stage box, rehearsal rooms and a cafe. In the underground area there are two auditoriums, an exhibition hall and facilities areas . As discussed, the building is developed mostly underground, reaching a depth of up to 13 m in the main auditorium, with the top slab at ground level as the only bracing element. The excavation was enabled by executing continous retaining walls with anchors, which were temporary in some cases and definitives in the highest areas. To reduce the hydrostatic thrust on the retaining walls and prevent strong uplift in bottom slab, there was developed a drainage system connected to a pumping system under the raft foundation concrete slab. The two auditoriums and also the exhibition hall have a roof garden, with deep landfills, forming a public walkable area. The auditoriums roof are made with composite beams, with a span up to 23 m, made with steel HEM profiles and upper steel deck of 30 cm deep, poured in two phases. In the exhibition hall, with complex geometry, the roof is made with concrete flat slab and upper edge beams in different directions supported by large steel columns and the rear retaining wall with buttress. The facade of the previous mentioned “cube” is a structural concrete skin with holes of complex geometry and was built using a climbing formwork, having inside styrofoam pieces with the shape of the polygonal holes. For supporting the floors over the stage box in the “cube”, as well as to support machinery, there are two steel trusses with a span of about 18 m, supported on the concrete wall façades. The facade of the "cube" and the auditoriums and exhibition hall roofs have been built with golden concrete, using logs as formworks for the roof edges.