AHI Architectural Heritage Intervention

“Contributing to enhancing our heritage, as the way forward for 21 st Century architecture is our raison d’être; to emphasize a diverse, rich vision that necessarily complements the intervention is our mission, and achieving it with reflexive and purposeful efforts is the challenge”.

This project, founded in, and directed since, 2011 by Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano and Jordi Portal, architects and members of the Group of Architects for the Defence and Intervention in Architectural Heritage (AADIPA), has, through the years become a platform that includes four actions that are both independent and transversal.
 
The European Award, a biennial event that brings together and showcases the multiple approaches of intervention in Europe.

The International Biennial, a framework that serves to compare and gain closer insight of quality interventions in architectural heritage in non-European countries.

The digital Archive, a live and open window that provides a panoramic view of interventions in the history of our surroundings.

The Forum, a meeting place where you can participate in on-going debates about the main preoccupations and lines of thought about interventions in architectural heritage in Europe.

AWARDS 6th Edition

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Merola's Tower

Merola's Tower

In the municipality of Puig-reig stand the remains of the heritage site of the castle of Merola (late 13th century). Due to the documented earth tremors that shook Catalonia in the 1500s, only one of the faces of the watchtower is still standing. The high risk of collapse, with the subsequent loss of the monument, called for an intervention to guarantee the preservation of the remains and recover the building for the village and as an attraction for visitors. Two basic lines of intervention were adopted to meet these aims: the consolidation of the surviving remains and the reinforcement of the medieval structure. Reinforcement takes the form of a timber structure of 14cm square sections that accompanies the original layout of the stone wall. Like scaffolding, it supports the pre-existing construction, recovers the original volume and restores its function in the territory as a lookout point. A stairway inside the new structure provides access to the three original levels of circulation and facilitates future maintenance of the monument.

Project name

Merola's Tower

Edition

5
Shortlisted

City

Puig-Reig (Barcelona)

Author

Carles Enrich Studio
Carles Enrich Giménez

Year

2019

Surface area sqm

55

Client

Public

Country

Spain

Collaborators

Team: Adriana Campmany, Anna de Castro
Executive Direction: Brufau Cusó
Structure: Masaad

Cost €

129.156

© Photographer

Adrià Goula