Experimentation and relationship with the environment, these are the two main concepts on which I have based my project. I am Manuel Lizasoain and I am going to present CAPS my proposal for a modular student residence for the island of Muratsalo.
It all started with experimentation, at the beginning of the course we were presented with the idea of ​​working with different plans of Alvar Aalto's buildings, creating different configurations focusing on the formal, in order to learn to manipulate the modules, patterns, and transformations of the themselves.
With this base acquired, it was time to focus on a module, which in my case began with a series of tests using plastic cookie containers, creating groupings, taking advantage of their condition of lightness and translucency. The creative process itself led me to consider what would happen if I transformed the initial lightness into a heavier and more material solution. Which resulted in plaster blocks generated from a double formwork: a smooth mold on the outside, and the same cookie containers on the inside, which print their relief on the plaster, producing very round modules, but which when joined Vertically they generate an irregular opening through which light filters into the central space. Once I had finished the process of making the capsules, I had to find the location, focusing on the relationship with the environment. The premise was that it should be located on the Finnish island of Muuratsalo, near Alvar Aalto's summer home, also known as an experimental house. The study trip was of great help for this process, since while there I was able to understand how the path through the trees to reach the house was part of the work. The house was planned in relation to its surroundings, achieving a balance between immensity of the lake and the lushness of the forest. For this reason, the CAPS were conceived as an adhesion to the original project, respecting those principles of connection with nature while the emptiness of the modules compresses the landscape. The topological relationship between the capsules is created from the conditions of the terrain, thus merging the towers between the mass of birch trees.
Throughout the process of creating the capsules, seeing the characteristics of the pieces and knowing the large number of students granted scholarships to work on Alvar Aalto projects, who do not have accommodation, it was clear to me that the program works. The CAPS are planned as a set of capsules with different uses, to satisfy the needs of these groups, from the CAPS_Residence, which contains everything necessary to stay, through administrative, meeting or dissemination CAPS, to the CAPS_Sauna, which was the The first and most representative of Finland, they all share the same principle, but each one adapts to its function.