Barranquillo-Clavel Building

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1993 · Authors: Felipe Artengo Rufino, Fernando Martín Menis, José María Rodríguez-Pastrana

This interesting example of contemporary architecture is the work of the architectural firm formed by Felipe Artengo, Fernando Martín Menis and José María Rodríguez-Pastrana. It was designed in 1990 under the functional premise of carrying out a construction equipped with three underground floors for parking, a ground floor for commercial premises and two upper floors with open spaces intended to house offices. 

This work is located on a large block in the urban centre of the old Santa Cruz, with façades facing Clavel street, where its main entrance is, Cruz Verde and Imeldo Serís (formerly Barranquillo); hence the name of the building.

Its exterior has a very expressive presence in terms of the play of materials used. While the ground floor is a rough plinth of almost untreated chasnera stone, the roof is a thin inclined plane that seems to float naturally. The intermediate strip of the volume is a gradation of the same stone used in the plinth, but now well worked, providing smooth panels where occasionally some rough masonry appears. Large openings are distributed across all façades. The interesting louvered blinds with sliding panels stand out. 

A curious concrete-framed entrance gives access to a carefully designed interior, where the small entrance hall and a magnificent staircase take centre stage. Curved corridors and balconies on three levels are illuminated by natural light that enters through long slits between the concrete and stone, reflecting on the panels and wooden doors. 

The Barranquillo-Clavel building was completed in 1993.

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