The commission was received to transform the restaurant, Bar Chousa – Casa Gloria, into a 2* hostel for young people, located in the village of Combarro, an Intangible Heritage of Humanity site.
The game to play: A very dark and elongated ground floor, ventilation and lighting in the front, reduced dimensions, low height, and which must respect an independent entrance to the upper floors, also of the same property. Only 140 m2 must contain the program required for a 2* hostel: number of bunk beds, toilets, showers, office, social room, reception, disabled toilets, lockers, laundry, installations room.
The floor plan is resolved by studying the use that pilgrims and users will make, footprints that will define the situation and limits of the partitions, rooms and corridors.
It is designed with the ambiguity of free space – occupied space. Dark space – occupied space (bunk beds, toilets, showers, lockers, laundry, office), light space – free space (operational areas, circulation spaces, social room, hall).
Light boxes are conceived – opaque boxes that are plastically reminiscent of the elements of Ribera’s carpentry boats, the remains of shipwrecks that wash up on the beach, remnants of Galicia’s seafaring history.