Description
The project initiated by local Valencia government strives to provide an attractive location for technologically innovative enterprises mainly of the locally important ceramic industry. To solve the task, the design concept had to react to a heterogeneous and varied programme: Laboratories, workshops, experimental hall buildings, offices, sales areas, and meeting rooms had to be arranged in flexible units and equipped with specific mechanical services. The main challenge of the project was handling the complex functional programme and also the great architectural freedom since the site almost completely lacked any relevant urban and spatial context. The result is a structurally and formally unusual and exciting building. It is located at the crossing of two major roads – the palatial boulevard leading to the port and the ring road to Castellón. A number of building volumes are arranged parallel and shifted successively, poignantly interpreting the urban context and highlighting the street corner.
The architectural solution is unique in separating the required areas from each other and grouping them in a number of individual buildings. The resulting pattern is reminiscent of commercial barcodes. Construction, proportions, and materials used are governed by this basic concept. The minimal distances between the volumes also order the inside, by enabling natural lighting and strengthening the individuality of each volume by exposing its corners.
The exterior appearance is to reflect the technology-orientated, innovative energies of the young enterprises. Particular façade materials were allocated to particular interior functions: aluminium for the laboratories, experimental hall buildings, and workshops; chessboard-like timber cladding for the office spaces at the gable ends. This use of materials is also followed through on the interior: maple veneered panels dominate the representative rooms; exposed sandlime brick is used for the industrial areas. The holistic overall appearance of the complex with its individual character is supported by the simplified details of the structure and interior fit-out.
Drawings
Site plan
Schematic sketch of building
Ground floor
Photos
Front panorama of the technology park with the stepped arrangement of the cubes
Interior with reception and transition to the adjacent part of the complex
Originally published in: Hardo Braun, Dieter Grömling, Research and Technology Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2005.