What can you do in Ibiza? That’s what people who haven’t been there ask. “Experience”, respond fans of the island.

Of course, there’s an Ibizan way of life. For some it’s the white clothing, a warm breeze moving the curtains, chill out music while you watch the sunset on the seashore with an Aperol Spritz in your hand…

For others it’s spending the night among friends, staying up til dawn.

For others Ibiza is, quite simply, a dream. Imagine waking up every day every summer in Villa Harmony. What can you do there that you haven’t daydreamed about?

Well, that dream exists. And it’s so special that its exterior flooring, the façade and the interior are all in ACCOYA®, also one of the most special woods in the world.

A natural, sustainable and resistant material, with a 50-year written guarantee

ACCOYA ® is a wood that is modified naturally to improve its resistance, durability and stability. We’ll tell you all about it here, but basically this treatment causes insects to fail to recognise it as food and prevents moulds attacking it.

In short, ACCOYA® is an unbeatable wood for exteriors. This is why architects and construction companies have been using it more and more. For this reason and because it holds the most highly regarded sustainability certification, from the FHS.

Also because the manufacturer provides a fifty-year written guarantee.

Façade, flooring and interior fit for a dream

And if Villa Harmony is a dream house, ACCOYA® wood has done its part. On the exterior it has been used for the flooring and the façade. For the latter in the form of slats, that combine with the decorative stone and control the light entering the house.

Inside, the architects from Candel Arquitectura have also opted for ACCOYA®. In the end, with the doors and windows open, the walls will remain the same despite the inevitable dose of salt residue that gets in.

The finish, the icing on the cake

ACCOYA® is a wood that is also appreciated for the options it provides when choosing the finish. A lot of people like its natural ageing, in which the wood takes on a greyish tone over time.

In the case of Villa Harmony the owners had various options for the finish, for both flooring and façade, and even in the interior, which has an oak varnish finish.

To enjoy all the images of this project,click on this link.

La entrada Somewhere in the Mediterranean se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

Health and architecture have always been connected: inefficient building design and construction with polluting raw materials are surefire routes to poor health for inhabitants. At the same time, responsible, smart design and the use of sustainable raw materials are decisions that result in successes such as sustainability, energy efficiency and self-supply.

This is the case in today’s project, with sustainable achievements that are the healthy culmination of the work carried out inside. We are referring to the expansion of the offices of Roche Diagnostics in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona. A project signed by Battleiroig Arquitectura.

A façade that protects our health

The architects of this new building confirm that their design was based on the concept of a shade house. In other words, a traditional structure made to provide shade.

The ACCOYA® slats of each façade are adapted to the direction of the sun, and protect the staff inside from the strong sunlight and heat, where research into diagnostic solutions for doctors and pharmaceutical laboratories takes place.

Sustainability and beauty, resistance and durability

ACCOYA® is acetylated wood, in other words, wood modified using a completely natural treatment. The result is a building material with excellent behaviour in exteriors, where it is possible to apply treatments or leave it natural. In both cases it has a powerfully attractive aesthetic appearance.

Acetylation makes ACCOYA® a wood that is exceptionally resistant and durable, to the point that the manufacturer provides a written 50-year guarantee for projects above ground level (use classes 1, 2 and 3) and 25 below ground or in fresh water (use class 4).

Like other types of wood, such as oak, ACCOYA® is a magnificent option for sustainable façades such as that of Roche Diagnostics.

From the grey of cement to the green of a garden

The project for this extension was to reinterpret the space from a sustainable concept. The staff workspaces (offices and laboratories) have been refurbished with two buildings, and efforts were made to give the plot, almost 40,000 m², a green side to its personality.

For this purpose a garden was created where the main parking area had been previously. This green space takes centre stage, and acts as connecting space for the different parts of the campus.

You can see the complete project file by clicking on this link.

La entrada Protective shading se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

In 1991 an atrocity struck Vic in the form of a terrorist attack. Ten people died. Today, at the same site the new city library has been built, as a symbol that knowledge is one of the best pathways to understanding others.

As we already know, architecture also helps to build values. The studio BCQ Architecture wanted the new Pilarin Bayés library in Vic to be a monument to knowledge and to life, tolerance and culture, to remembrance and to the future. Also to sustainability, as one of the simplest ways to face that future.

To meet this sustainable goal, the creators have used ACCOYA@, one of the most resistant and sturdy timbers on the market.

Exterior wooden curtain wall

ACCOYA® makes it possible to build a sustainable façade with curtain wall where wood is used on the exterior. This possible thanks to acetylated wood, in other words, wood subject to a 100% natural treatment that makes the material extraordinarily resistant.

The wood obtained after this method takes on a superior dimensional stability, with good strength in the cycles of expansion and contraction. Its weather resistance also improves, as the molecular alteration of the wood after this process means that moulds and insects no longer recognise it as a source of food.

In virtue of this robustness, ACCOYA® has a written guarantee of 50 years in use classes 1, 2 and 3 (at ground level), and 25 in use class 4 (underground or submerged in fresh water).

Natural light, vegetation and remembrance

The authors proposed that all the building’s reading spaces be oriented toward the garden. The design of the façade lets in plenty of natural light. At the same time, the interior provides a perfect view of the exterior vegetation and, in particular, the trees, ten in total: one for each victim of the attack.

Each of the lights that illuminate the rooms at night have an inscription in different alphabets: knowledge illuminates life. A phrase with a metaphoric power that is transmitted every night, when the light emanating from the library bathes the surrounding streets with the design of its façade with wooden curtain wall.

(To see all the images, consult the project file.)

La entrada Knowledge illuminates life se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

Like the universe, cities tend to expand. The same thing happens to the microspaces that comprise them, the residential areas, which blend into each other, blurring limits, erasing borders, mixing origins.

Just like some specific physical spaces that are forced to extend their facilities to provide a better service. This is the case of the British school Oak House School in Barcelona, whose expansion plan included the construction of the building intended for highschool studies, with a façade clad with ACCOYA® acetylated wood.

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

History and landscape

This extension was opened up on land belonging to the school that had been occupied by an ancient villa with gardens. The architectural studio Trasbordo worked with two priority ideas: to listen to the history of the space where the building was going to be built and to respect the values of the landscape.

They managed to do so, and many other things, with a decision related to the building material of the façade: they gave the building a skin made of ACCOYA® sustainable wood, whose aesthetic characteristics helped give the building the natural link to its location, the foot of the Collserola mountains.

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

ACCOYA® wood: the perfect building material for sustainable architecture

Its qualities as one of the most resistant woods suitable for exteriors ended up tipping the scale. The architects used panels of ACCOYA® to promote natural ventilation, control the sunlight and reduce the noise from the outside. In addition to the façade, ACCOYA® wood is also used to clad the upper floor.

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

The revolutionary ACCOYA® wood guarantees top performance in exteriors. Its durability is achieved by subjecting the wood to a natural process, without toxins of any type, that makes the wood resistant to moulds and wood-eating insects.

ACCOYA® can take any finish and, like in northern European countries, it is used without any type of treatment. This aesthetic choice creates different, totally original façades, as the effects of the passage of time and the climate vary depending on factors such as its orientation to the sun. And with no need for maintenance.

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

All these properties enable manufacturers and distributors of ACCOYA@ to offer a 50-year written guarantee. And perhaps even more importantly, ACCOYA® acetylated wood is a building material that is more and more highly regarded by architects seeking to continue designing their projects without limiting their creativity and promoting sustainable architecture.

La entrada Education and environment se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

fter his triumph with his San Sebastian restaurant A Fuego Negro, without doubt one of the most influential shrines to gastronomy in the world capital of cuisine (judging by the number of Michelin stars in San Sebastian and the surrounding area), Edorta Lamo took an even more personal project with the restaurant Arrea!, the chef’s return to his home town, Kanpezu (Campezo).

With the courage to set up premises with their own personality, one hundred percent local resonance and a strong link to culture of his homeland, in a place with less than a thousand inhabitants in the mountains of Alava, Edorta Lamo chose Grupo Gámiz, whose factory and history are also linked to Kanpezu, for the wooden cladding of the restaurant façade.

The choice was ACCOYA®, a sustainable and extraordinarily resistant wood.

Arrea! Restaurant, Kanpezu (Álava) | Product: Cladding of the exterior façade – Accoya®

A beautiful, sustainable and durable façade

At the initial presentation of the restaurant, it was said that Arrea! is “the return of Edorta Lamo to his crudest, hardest and most savage roots”. Although this statement probably alludes to deeper matters, it is true that, in terms of climate, the Kanpezu area is a rather inhospitable rural environment, especially in winter.

Arrea! Restaurant, Kanpezu (Álava) | Product: Cladding of the exterior façade – Accoya®

For Arrea!, ACCOYA®, the wood of the future, has been used to clad a melting pot of tradition and the past. This acetylated wood takes all types of finishes, and for this project a screen was chosen that shelters from the inclemency of the outdoors and that at the same time lets the light in, to which a rustic touch was given.

Arrea! Restaurant, Kanpezu (Álava) | Product: Cladding of the exterior façade – Accoya®

ACCOYA®: 50-year written guarantee

Both the manufacturers of ACCOYA® and Grupo Gámiz, distributor of the wood in Spain, provide a 50-year written guarantee. This extraordinarily resistant wood is fruit of a natural process called acetylation. Here, the wood obtained from sustainable forests is subjected to a molecular change due to natural products, with no toxic procedures.

This process achieves a sustainable wood, resistant to mould and insects, which no longer recognise the wood as food after treatment.

Arrea! Restaurant, Kanpezu (Álava) | Product: Cladding of the exterior façade – Accoya®

Today ACCOYA® is an ecological solution for architects and designers committed to the environment and creativity. A universal wood able to give any project its own personality, just like the restaurant Arrea! in Kanpezu.

La entrada Arrea! Restaurant se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

Art has been around for as long as human beings have. There are palaeolithic examples of paints, decoration and engravings, as well as, of course, sculptures, that were initially carved in stone or bone. After the golden age of Hellenistic art, it was in the Middle Ages when wood, once again, rose as an ally to artists, who gave free rein to their creativity with a material and techniques that gave them innovative possibilities in those times. Later other materials would follow such as gold, bronze, iron, plaster, and, closer to our times, concrete and fibreglass.

Now, innovation has shown itself once more to be cyclical and, like sustainable architecture, where certified quality wood is becoming a leading building material worldwide, wood has been used once more to create a very original sculpture.

Accoya® sculpture of a foot “Materoccon” | Sculptor: Gonzalo García Fernández | Photographer: Muel de Dios | Product: Accoya®

A sculpture for exteriors needs a high-quality wood for exteriors

Matero meaning in Latin “material” and “wood”. Occon, an instrument for making holes, a type of hoe. This is where the name of this sculpture “El Materoccon” comes from, the creation of the Asturian artist Gonzalo García. The work took the sculptor two years to complete and in summer 2019 it finally took its place in the world, in the open air on land dedicated to art, owned by the people who commissioned the sculpture, some collectors from Madrid.

Accoya® sculpture of a foot “Materoccon” | Sculptor: Gonzalo García Fernández | Photographer: Muel de Dios | Product: Accoya®

Accoya® sculpture of a foot “Materoccon” | Sculptor: Gonzalo García Fernández | Photographer: Muel de Dios | Product: Accoya®

Accoya® sculpture of a foot “Materoccon” | Sculptor: Gonzalo García Fernández | Photographer: Muel de Dios | Product: Accoya®

Accoya® sculpture of a foot “Materoccon” | Sculptor: Gonzalo García Fernández | Photographer: Muel de Dios | Product: Accoya®

Accoya® sculpture of a foot “Materoccon” | Sculptor: Gonzalo García Fernández | Photographer: Muel de Dios | Product: Accoya®

Accoya® sculpture of a foot “Materoccon” | Sculptor: Gonzalo García Fernández | Photographer: Muel de Dios | Product: Accoya®

That is why the choice of material for the sculpture, ACCOYA® acetylated wood, was not by chance at all. Gonzalo García knew of the existence of this sustainable wood, a true revolution in the world of wood, in construction and now, as we can see, even in art.

ACCOYA® sustainable wood: written 50-year guarantee.

ACCOYA® sustainable wood is incredibly resistant to the inclemency of the weather, with an extraordinary durability that enables its manufacturers and distributors to offer a written 50-year guarantee. It repels moulds and wood-eating insects and can take any finish. 

Even in its natural state it is a wood of great beauty, which can be seen in this sculpture.

Acetylation, a natural process with no toxins

ACCOYA® is a revolutionary wood obtained using the acetylation process, a treatment that uses natural reagents, without toxins of any type, which modifies the cell structure of the radiata pine, which comes from sustainable forests. The result is a wood with extraordinary durability and resistance, that also has unquestionable aesthetic qualities.

Building with wood is now easier with sustainable solutions such as ACCOYA@, that enables architects committed to the environment to make maximum use of their creativity without limiting their constructive capacity.

And, as can be seen with this magnificent sculpture, and other artistic projects such as Melarium, quality sustainable wood is also a very interesting resource for artists. More wood!

La entrada At the foot of innovation se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

Fortunately for everyone, sustainable architecture is no longer an ideal vision, but the everyday commitment of many people. There are more and more architects, construction companies and designers that create their projects with respect for the environment. Mere intention, however, is not enough. For example, there is no point in talking about sustainable materials, like that, generically, if it is not possible to trace their manufacture route.

Let’s use the case of wood products. Wood is, by definition, a natural material. But wood products are only sustainable and ecological if their manufacture process prioritises sustainability goals and guarantees the protection and continuity of the forests from which this raw material is extracted.

This guarantee only comes from certifications. Hallmarks of quality and sustainability granted for levels approved and known all over the world. These are the most significant sustainability certifications.

Maison de l’Ordre des Avocats | Arch: Renzo Piano studio | Grupo Gámiz Product: Oak glulam – curtain wall | Photo courtesy of ©L.Zylberman/Graphix-Images

FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council)

The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is an independent, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation, that issues one of the most significant certifications to ensure that the forestry product acquired (wood or paper) comes from a sustainably managed forest.

It originated in California in 1990, and was the first step in establishing a worldwide sustainable certification for these types of products, that was finally consolidated with the creation of the Founding Assembly in Toronto in 1993.

The FSC certificate is a complete guarantee of sustainability, supported by ONGs such as the WWF.

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certificate

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification)

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) is the most widespread forestry certification system in the world. This organisation, also not-for-profit, originated in the forestry sector itself.

The objectives of the PEFC are to protect forestry resources, the ecosystem and biological diversity, and contribute to the socioeconomic development of the communities where these forest masses are located.

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certificate

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

An EPD or Environmental Product Declaration is a certified document that provides information on the environmental impact of a product, material or service. This certification is a standard in construction, a sector where laws and new regulations on improvements in energy efficiency and sustainability come up practically every minute.

The EPD is drawn up by the manufacturer, where the potential of the building material to reduce the impact on the environment is argued. This declaration must then be verified by approved independent organisations, called Programme Administrators.

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) certificate

Certified wood products for a better and more beautiful world

In short, sustainable certification of products helps guarantee that the processes are becoming safer for the environment. The commitment of GRUPO GÁMIZ to nature and sustainable architecture is strong, as you can see in our certifications: FSC, PEFC and EPD.

Residence in Rosario Manzaneque |Arch: By More Arquitectos | Product: Cladding of the exterior façade – Accoya® horizontal scantlings

Its sustainability is complemented by the most significant product quality certifications, such as the CTB and the CE, awarded to VIGAM, our oak glulam beam, the only one in the world with the CE marking for structural use. Similarly, we are distributors of ACCOYA®, the sustainable wood of the future.

Every day we work so that the certified quality wood products that we design and manufacture can help architects and construction companies that want to create a better world without renouncing the creativity, function, resistance and beauty of wood.

La entrada True sustainable architecture is certified se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

Melarium is a small summit of sustainable architecture. It is a functional, playful, respectful building, integrated with nature (animals and plants), and sustainable in both design and use.

As if this were not enough, visiting it is an unforgettable experience that is artistic (it is normal to observe it from the outside and go round it, like you would with a sculpture) and sensorial, as going into Melarium is going into a beehive and, practically, merging with the body of a bee.

Melarium, ACCOYA® cladding | Arch: David Vedhoen | Product: ACCOYA® sustainable wood | Photo courtesy of imkerverenigingdelft.nl

This exceptional work, in a natural spot in the Dutch town of Delft, is constructed with ACCOYA® sustainable wood, which, in the words of its creator David Veldhoen, makes it “a resistant, isolated organism that breathes”.

Melarium, ACCOYA® cladding | Arch: David Vedhoen | Product: ACCOYA® sustainable wood | Photo courtesy of  davidveldhoen.nl

Inside sustainable wood bee

The surface of Melarium (from the Latin melis, honey) has 4000 holes, a decision that is reminiscent of the fragmented eye of a queen bee. The interior takes its inspiration from the shape of the bee’s body, divided into three parts. The hives are located in one of them, with the bees producing honey.

Melarium, ACCOYA® cladding | Arch: David Vedhoen | Product: ACCOYA® sustainable wood | Photo courtesy of  davidveldhoen.nl

Melarium, ACCOYA® cladding | Arch: David Vedhoen | Product: ACCOYA® sustainable wood | Photo courtesy of  davidveldhoen.nl

A spiral staircase takes us to the roof terrace, designed to provide the same view a bee would have in full flight. Under the terrace and above the hives, there is a meeting space, where local beekeepers and scientists experiment and share techniques and discoveries.

Melarium, ACCOYA® cladding | Arch: David Vedhoen | Product: ACCOYA® sustainable wood | Photo courtesy of  davidveldhoen.nl

ACCOYA®, modified wood with a 50-year written guarantee

The craftsman behind the project, David Vedhoen, was sure that Melarium required wooden cladding that could easily be built around a steel frame, and that would not need any maintenance. ACCOYA® acetylated wood was the material selected due to its resistance, durability, natural texture and special performance against moulds and insects.

Put simply, ACCOYA® will not rot or be attacked by wood-eating organisms, such as termites. One of the advantages of its acetylation process, which is completely natural, is that the cell structure of the wood is modified so the insect does not recognise it as food.

Qualities such as these are what make ACCOYA® sustainable wood one of the leading construction materials for the architects of the present and the very immediate future. Its performance is so spectacular that its manufacturers and distributors offer a written 50-year guarantee.

La entrada Melarium, or the experience of entering a beehive se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

Sustainable architecture projects are designed from various fronts. The most noteworthy are the general inclination toward respect for the environment, ecodesign, to draw maximum benefit from the construction in terms of energy and emphasis on sustainability when selecting the materials, in terms of both their manufacture and their footprint left on the planet.

To move forward with the project for this health centre commissioned by Osakidetza for town of Campezo, in the mountains of Alava, the architect Adolfo Moro Quintana took an objective of energy efficiency as his starting point. He achieved it by planning the construction with the right southern orientation to make use of the natural light, and by paying attention to the smallest details of its insulation.

A key point in this matter is the envelope design, the skin that protects the building from the exterior: wind, temperature, humidity, etc. For this purpose, the architect decided to clad the façade with ACCOYA® sustainable wood.

Santa Cruz de Campezo health centre | Arch: Adolfo Moro | Product: Accoya®

An efficient, sustainable and elegant façade, integrated into the environment

As you can see, the façade of the Campezo health centre has a very special nature. The horizontal gaps, in addition to providing an interesting texture, allow lighting, ventilation, and control over the sunshine, in addition to affording privacy to what happens inside.

The terrain on which this medical centre is located is eminently rural, with low houses, squares with gardens and agricultural land. The aesthetics of the façade made with ACCOYA® sustainable wood manages to integrate a new-build into this environment in full harmony.

Santa Cruz de Campezo health centre | Arch: Adolfo Moro | Product: Accoya®

Untreated Accoya® wood evolves with the passage of time. Snapshots from 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively of the Santa Cruz de Campezo health centre | Arch: Adolfo Moro

Acetylated wood, a safe choice in terms of durability and sustainability for exteriors

Acetylation is a natural treatment that turns radiata pine from sustainable forests into an extraordinarily durable wood. This process is carried out using natural reagents with no toxins.

Santa Cruz de Campezo health centre | Arch: Adolfo Moro | Product: Accoya®

The result is a wood that is resistant to the inclemency of the weather, rot-proof (repels moulds and insects such as termites, etc.), with great beauty and usability, that can take any finish.

Thanks to its sustainable and aesthetic qualities many architects now use ACCOYA® for both interiors and exteriors. Its performance in exteriors is so incredibly good that manufacturers and distributors offer ACCOYA® certified wood with a written 50-year guarantee.

Santa Cruz de Campezo health centre | Arch: Adolfo Moro | Product: Accoya®

PROJECT FILE

• Architect: Adolfo Moro Quintana
• Contractor: Campezo Obras y Servicios, S.A.
• ACCOYA® distributor: GRUPO GÁMIZ
• Year: 2017

La entrada Kanpezu-Campezo Health Centre se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

If they so desire, the residents of this complex right on the seafront of the Guipuzcoa town of Zarautz can simply open the door, step out onto the sand and take a dip in the sea. Undisputable comfort that comes with a price: the wear of the construction materials due to the sun, salt and strong winds in the area, especially outside of summer.

The hallmark of these apartment blocks is their railings with wooden slats, that with the inclemency of the weather and the passage of time have lost their original image and even their functional capacity. That is why for this façade restoration project, the studio XS Arquitectura opted for a material with a high level of durability, resistance and beauty: ACCOYA® sustainable wood.

Terrace refurbishment for the Muskaria residential complex, Zarautz | Arch: XS Arquitectura | Product: Terraces – Accoya®

Acetylated wood: a natural treatment with no toxic substances

The principal virtue of ACCOYA® acetylated wood is its durability. This is achieved with a procedure that modifies the molecular structure of the wood without using any toxic components. The pieces of wood are submerged in a bath of natural reagents: carbon, oxygen and hydrogen.

This process, acetylation, treats the whole of the piece of wood, not just the surface, and the result a very hard wood, with great dimensional stability and resistance in cycles of stretching and shrinkage.

Terrace refurbishment for the Muskaria residential complex, Zarautz | Arch: XS Arquitectura | Product: Terraces – Accoya®

The ideal sustainable wood for exteriors, with a 50-year written guarantee

In addition, this natural alteration of the wood’s structure makes ACCOYA@ resistant to moulds and insects (for example, termites), which no longer recognise this wood as food.

The advantages of ACCOYA® are enjoyed by sustainable architects worldwide, who see in this material a creative and functional solution to integrate respect for the environment into their projects, while enjoying the beauty and other aesthetic qualities of wood.

The absolute quality and resistance of ACCOYA® wood enables its distributors, GRUPO GÁMIZ, to offer a 50-year written guarantee.

Terrace refurbishment for the Muskaria residential complex, Zarautz | Arch: XS Arquitectura | Product: Terraces – Accoya®

PROJECT FILE

• Architectural studio: XS Arquitectura
• Architects: Borja Agirresarobe Lopetegi, Kerman Elizondo Arrieta
• Collaborators: Elisabeth Gesalaga Argote, Daniel Aramberri Rodríguez
• ACCOYA® distributor: GRUPO GÁMIZ
• Carpentry: Carpintería Zulaika
• Year: 2018

La entrada Muskaria residential complex se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.