Creating meeting points is one of the central ideas of constructing public buildings; to think of spaces for people to interact and share. That is why, faced with the need of the Tredós town council (Val d’Aran, Pyrenees) to refurbish a social facility that was almost in disuse, it was clear to us that the success of the intervention was to provide it with a new programme of activities so that it could be used daily.

This new approach was the origin of the Tredós Civic Centre and made it one of those projects in which we are lucky enough to put into practice the basics of architecture for the community.

We began our project with a building in the centre of the village that was used as a social hall and that, over time, had been losing its function because it needed to be better equipped. Following the municipal intention to reactivate the space, our proposal focused on expanding its programme of uses to transform it into a space with new and more varied objectives as a cultural, educational and social centre. Thus, we had to enlarge its size and improve access for reduced mobility, energy efficiency, interior design and acoustics; therefore, we created new rooms to accommodate more people and events. To materialise the intervention, the central hall was divided into three sub-spaces that can be modulated with movable walls that allow each room to be adapted to the needs of each activity.

To make this new age visible, we decided to keep the existing building in its original state (stone) so that the extension intervention was carried out with lighter and more transparent materials (wood and glass). We intended to create a dialogue between the existing and the new, the opaque and the translucent.