The building is an industrial extension of the existing factory. The brief comprises functional spaces that require large dimensions and amplitude: Showroom, factory floor, canteen and warehouse with access for heavy goods vehicles. The land for construction, with a steep West-East gradient, and the presence of a high voltage electricity pylon at the eastern end, restricted the design of a large empty box, with an oblong perimeter, extending the alignments of the existing factory buildings. At the top in the east, the presence of the electricity pylon required a diversion of the upper elevation façade, causing a geometric accident in the two-storey mass. At the top in the west, the façade departs from orthogonality to run parallel to the road on a single floor. The transition between the two floors is provided by an exterior staircase, with some monumentality to the design, which is perpendicular to the layout and whose horizontal concrete line gives scale to the large opaque volume. The building is designed as a large container which uses and exposes current industrial construction methods (metal roof trusses, steel lattices, composite slabs, sheet linings, off-the-peg frames), and this gives it great spatial informality and a certain mass anonymity. The tops are opened up in glass, and the western façade, facing the public access, comprises 3 elements which simulate a classic architectural composition: A concrete base raises the building above the ground, giving shape to a sole plate. A silvered glass area reflects the surroundings and the existing trees on the land, like an immaterial shaft that causes an ambiguity contrasting with the pragmatism of the rest of the building. The utter transparency of the upper closing of the façade, an empty capital that exposes the interior structure, reveals the nature of the construction of the entire building.
project:
industrial extension of the existing factory - móveis viriato
client:
móveis viriato, s.a.
location:
terronhas industrial area,
recarei, paredes, portugal
date:
2008 - 2015
building area:
5870 m2
architecture:
nuno brandão costa
collaborators:
cíntia pires,
frederico costa leite,
marta reis
structural engineer:
ana isabel vale (abprojectos)
hydraulic engineer:
ana isabel vale (abprojectos)
electrical engineer:
maria da luz santiago (rs associados)
mechanical engineer:
raul bessa (get)
photographs:
andré cepeda