regionalist + region

“What distinguishes the regionalist from the simply region that it incorporates regional elements into design as a means not only of adapting to local conditions but also of criticizing an architectural order that claims universal application.”

One of RCR’s project in Olot balances this dichotomy of “regionalist” and “region” through their knowledge of the landscape and their conscious intent of combining the two ideas. Their design of the Les Cols Restaurant and the Pavilions take a progressive approach to design that seeks to reside within this spectrum of the global and local languages of architecture. Les Cols is revealed by the environment with opaque and transparent surfaces that merge the boundary of the interior with the exterior.

It’s almost reminiscent of Mies’ Farnsworth House in the way that it unifies human, art and nature, but with a more integrated approach to the environment.

What makes this project so effective is that Les Cols feels timeless in its home. The way that the floor uses the surrounding volcanic stone as an aggerate, literally integrating the vegetation in between the strips of “building,” using the slightly excavated site to hold the roof and the plastic strips that are usually seen in industrial entranceways hung to form hazy, layered walls to let natural light in as well as insulate, all commemorate the locality of Olot.

Les Cols shows how universal application doesn't have to be strident or out of place. There is respect for the site, not just in a traditional sense, that figured into the success. The visit to Olot last semester manifested the reality of how a historic city can be relevant in a modern world.