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.

The digital transformation has changed our understanding of life, relationships and work. In this regard, in the industrial sphere a true revolution is taking place. The roof tile factories that sprang up alongside our rivers are disappearing, giving way to the new forms of management and production of the so-called Industry 4.0 or Digital Industry.

Within the framework of this new reality, the AEGIS project arises within the Hazitek innovation programme backed by the Basque Government and the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).

Enovos, Luxemburgo | arch: Jim Clemes | Project: VIGAM: oak glulam

Integration of state-of-the-art technology and market leaders

The IoT, or “internet of things”, refers to the connection of everyday objects with the internet, a link with the purpose of making our daily life more practical, convenient, safe and efficient. In short, this interconnection provides comprehensive knowledge about the objects themselves, their use and their context, to optimise the use we make of them.

In the case of AEGIS, the objective of people’s well-being stems from innovation in the manufacture of the various elements needed in construction and furniture, two areas in which wood, in particular quality certified, sustainable wood, plays a fundamental role.

The AEGIS project centres its efforts on integrating different technologies that make it possible to create healthy buildings and spaces by generating smart infrastructure, advanced solutions for purification and disinfection and developing hygienic surfaces.

To do this, an innovation alliance has been set up comprising leading companies in their respective areas, such as Grupo Gámiz, Orona, Irurena, Airlan, Goizper, Erreka, Ingetek and Dinycon.

Kaiserhof offices, Cologne | arch: msm Meyer Schmitz-Morkramer Rhein GmbH. | Product: VIGAM: oak glulam

The digital transformation is better if it is sustainable

Today, to achieve these safe spaces and buildings, plastic or metal elements have to be included. The day-to-day effort of Grupo Gámiz’s innovation department in the search for sustainability means that our role in this project is primarily focused on providing solutions for integrating electronics into wood so it can be reused once these electronics have reached the end of their useful life.

As the project advances, new digital transformation challenges will arise that will have to be approached from a similarly sustainable perspective. At Grupo Gámiz we are accustomed to seeing the world from this viewpoint since 1942.

La entrada Wood is the perfect solution to bring sustainability to the IoT 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.