Albacete fairground: Conservation of a singular rammed earth building

Abstract

On a lower scale, it is mandatory to gather the building distinctive features before making any intervention, bearing in mind the difficulties attached to the actions taken on historical buildings. The fairground is a regional construction type built with rammed earth. Recently, some conservation and refurbishing works have been performed due to the bad conservation status of the building, fulfilling all the actions accordingly to its protection requirements, and respecting the initial practise. This paper shows the most important interventions made in order to be able to identify the constructive areas of the actual building, making a constructive area plan. It studies specially this last intervention as a part of a more complete and1 INTERVENTION OVER A RAMMED EARTH MONUMENTThe fairground of Albacete covers around 31,000 m2, between Benavente and Feria Streets, and Arquitecto Julio Carrillero and De los Toreros Avenues. It is a methodical vernacular building and architecturally unique in its kind (Bonet 1983), with a particular but regular geometry, it is drawn as simple in sketch but has some difficult connection points due to its curvatures. The main access opens up into a rectangular body of 80 × 95 m, broken by two longitudinal pavilions. These are exempt and covered, and include curved ends that convert them into areas differentiating transit spaces. Through the uncovered and longitudinal axis the fairground opens up to two concentric rings roofed with 40 and 55 m radius respectively and of 7 m wide. The complex has a concentric enclosure in its north-south side, with an exterior radius of 82 m, and serves as a containing wall for the squares and open streets. Despite being completely closed to the outside, it gives on the contrary a permeability feeling due to the serenity of its proportions that barely reach one or two floors.