THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SPECIFIC. THE PIRINEOS COOPERATIVE IN ZARAGOZA

Abstract

The Pirineos Cooperative is a residential complex in Zaragoza designed in 1979 by Saturnino Cisneros and Juan Carmona, main members of Grupo Z, a collective which contributed to renovate the architectural panorama in Aragon since its creation in 1970. The analysis of the building shows the shift in the way of facing the issue of collective housing in contrast to previous decades. Their conception of collective work allowed them to avoid personal approaches, prioritizing agreed proposals as the most optimal for particular problems. The interpretation of the urban environment was made according to the particular conditions of the place, proposing solutions that differ from those of the surrounding residential developments. The incorporation of users through participatory processes allowed them to define the housing types and common spaces, reinforcing the idea of community. Therefore, a special attention was paid to the intermediate spaces where people interact, which are present in the whole project scales. The language looked for a categorical expression, making the complex recognizable in contrast to the unstructured surroundings. A particular attention to the specificity of each situation, at different scales, happens in all these matters, refusing generic solutions inherent to former periods.