The CENTRE ESPLAI project seeks a balance between an austere, functional and practical building which resolves a set of needs without renouncing the symbolic and emblematic character typical of an institutional building.
Given the heterogeneity of uses, the project attempts to define a single container that groups together the different parts of this complex program, thus presenting an integral volumetric image to the outside world. Such an image turns it into an urban and civic reference point, given its position in the area, by generating public space and configuring a new urban frontage.
A saving in the use of energy resources has been a basic guide in the development of the proposal. The project ensures a good level in the sphere of sustainable architecture, considered a necessary and growing requirement, given its orientation, its thermal envelope and the rest of its materials and installations.
From the environmental and sustainability angle, the approach has been to apply passive eco-efficient parameters generated by the actual design of the building: an optimum rapport between orientation/use, natural ventilation, control of solar radiation and heat loss by means of heat control measures like autonomous modular facings, facade air chambers, double glazing and solar protection; and active eco-efficient parameters such as the separate drainage network and a reuse of water via an internal circuit, a use of renewable energy systems, solar thermal panels for the supply of solar hot water (SHW).
