Villajoyosa Municipal Police Headquarters, Villajoyosa, Spain

Designed as the headquarters for the Municipal Police in Villajoyosa, the building occupies a triangular site delimited by the railway station and the main highway access to the town centre. The building’s irregular pentagonal footprint is kept as compact and low so as not to interrupt the large mountain and the remnants of local farmland which form its scenic background – as though the building were just another wall in the surrounding rural landscape.

The building interior is arranged with three bays around a central courtyard which lets light in to a detention centre in the basement. The first bay is devoted to the interface with the public, with an auditorium, library and witness room; while the second bay is dedicated to the administration spaces; and the third hosts the officers’ quarters and various different brigades. One level of basement houses parking for police vehicles, a shooting gallery for training and a records office. A series of skylights introduce daylight to the building upper floor, and the exterior walls are pierced by a series of small holes forming a lattice along the perimeter wall to permit views out while maintaining privacy to the interior.
 

Architect - Foreign Office Architects

Local Architect - Antonio Marquerie

Structural - NB35

Building Services - Angel Garrido

Photography - Ramon Pratt

Location

Villajoyosa, Spain

Client

Villajoyosa City Council

Date

2004

Total area

2,000m²