VAUMM reconditions railway arches with mint green colored-tiles in spain

San Sebastian-based architecture practice VAUMM has transformed the opening of a suburban railway line between Donostia and Hendaye in a town called Pasai Antxo in Spain.

Given the difference in elevation between the urban core and the railway, the viaduct holding the train is 7 meters above the antxo neighborhood, creating tunnels. This element of interurban connection has generated a barrier on the urban structure, as it only opens through the vaulted passages that pierce up the walls of the great sandstone viaduct.

VAUMM’s project has taken this problematic public space with the aim of transforming it and giving back to the community. The project proposed to recondition the arches under the train railway as they were very deteriorated and to add a social layer in which architecture can transform a dark place into a colorful and playful one. The resulting design inserted an element capable of generating optimism into the community.

Referencing the work of swiss plastic artist Felice Varini, VAUMM has used a light green color to create an envelope with ceramic tiles that protects the passage of leaks and chipping. The tiles are ornamented and feature simple geometric motifs using rhombus. A paint and perforation system highlights lines or geometries that appear to be broken, except when the viewer approaches a specific point of view, where the image makes sense as it become pure geometry.

Project info:

Name: intervención en los arcos de pasajes Antxo

Design: VAUMM

Location: Pasai Antxo, Spain

Completition: 2019

Ceramics: Ceràmica Cumella

Photography: Aitor Estévez