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#PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS

ICTA-ICP research centre

Harquitectes and Dataae have chosen a concrete structure wrapped and protected by a low cost exterior bioclimatic skin for this research centre in environmental sciences and palaeontology built inside the Barcelona University Campus.

The ICTA-ICP building, located in the UAB Campus (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), is a research centre in environmental sciences and palaeontology.

In accordance with the research fields of the building users, they chose, from the beginning, a building prepared to give an ambitious response to the challenges of sustainability.The building, an isolated volume of five floors of 40x40 sqm and two basements, contains the following program: on the ground floor the hall, bar, classrooms, meeting rooms and the administration area; the next 3 floors hold the offices and laboratories; on the roof there are vegetable patches together with the resting areas. The semi basement holds the parking and the engine rooms while the basement contains the warehouses and other laboratories.

Both offices and laboratories are spaces with a lot of internal load and therefore tend to be hot. The building has been designed to take profit from this internal situation in winter while it tends to dissipate it in summer. It has been thought as an adaptable and flexible infrastructure able to suffer changes of use, developing several simultaneous strategies that work complementarily.The concrete structure is wrapped and protected by a low cost exterior bioclimatic skin. By installing a greenhouse industrialized system that opens and closes its mechanisms automatically, the solar gain and ventilation are regulated. This way, it is possible to raise the interior temperature naturally and guarantee a base of comfort in the circulation spaces as well as in the in-between spaces.

In the middle of the building four patios, with stairs that connect the different levels at certain points, guarantee light and ventilation in all workspaces reducing the consumption of artificial lighting. These patios, as well as the inbetween spaces and the perimeter gallery, contain several plant species that allow to improve the comfort through the adjustment of the humidity gradient.

Harquitectes and Dataae, ICTA-ICP research centre, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona

Details

  • Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  • Harquitectes