Social lounge rehabilitation. Club Náutico of Sevilla

The building to rehabilitate, the Social Headquarters of the Seville Yacht Club, was designed by architect Antonio de la Peña Neila in 1966 along with other buildings of the Club that still exist today. The intervention we carry out involves a prior analysis of the original plans. In them, the first floor - the entrance floor - consists of a totally diaphanous and multi-purpose space articulated around a central patio, which no longer exists. By means of floor-to-ceiling windows located along most of the perimeter and continued by a terrace of considerable dimensions, the main space opens onto the Guadalquivir River. However, the most characteristic feature of the building is its extensive zigzag concrete roof, which makes the existence of this open-plan space possible, while its marked directionality reinforces the gaze towards the river.

Prior to the refurbishment, we found a building that had been significantly transformed by the immediate needs that had arisen over the last few years. The original courtyard had been colonised by toilets and the floor had been partitioned into smaller spaces, losing its open character. In view of this, it was proposed, on the one hand, to enhance the value of the building's initial conception and, on the other, to update and adapt the building to contemporary requirements.

In this way, a 'surgical' intervention is carried out. Firstly, the original patio is once again an articulating element. The entrance, the bar-cafeteria and the new toilets are organised around it, forming a new area visually marked by a stone carpet - which contrasts with the rest of the floor - as well as by a wooden slatted ceiling that marks a more intimate space. Secondly, unnecessary partitions are eliminated, recovering the open-plan space. Only in those areas that occasionally need to be divided are sliding panels designed to give flexibility to the whole. On the other hand, in order to give activity back to the perimeter terrace -unused until now- the planter has been eliminated and a glass railing has been installed in its place to increase its width. As for the exterior-interior relationship, this is blurred by using the same paving both inside and outside, supported by the existing zig-zag roof that extends towards the river.

The purpose of all this is to design a single living-terrace space, exterior-interior, where the patio and everything that happens around it is a 'milestone' within the large open-plan floor plan.