The office building on Carretera del Prat transforms an existing building from the early 90s. A building that had been designed for vehicles – such as a workshop and garage – is being renovated and expanded to become an office building designed for people.

The strategy of the intervention is to dismantle the facades, partitions and interior stairs, maintaining the original structure of the building to renovate and expand it with two new floors.

The fact of taking advantage of the existing structure has been a premise raised as a principle of sustainability, as this allows to extend and improve the useful life of the building, amortizing in twice the time the ecological impact generated in its initial construction.

The new office structure has been designed in response to the need to expand two new floors but seeks to minimize the impact and overload on the structure of the existing building.

This is achieved by reinforcing an interior line of pillars and creating a new one in front of the current façade, to be able to support 32-meter metal trusses. From them hangs the new light roof and the slab of the third floor, thus leaving an office space of 1,800 m2 completely free of pillars.

In this way, the need for reinforcement in the existing structure and foundation is considerably reduced, at the same time as an open and flexible workspace is generated, optimal for the use of offices.

By placing the trusses above the roof, the structure becomes a key element of the architectural image of the building. In addition, thanks to the industrialization of trusses in the workshop, allows to reduce the construction time and combine it with other work in situ.

The proposal brings a new image to the building, improving its transparency and the relationship between interior and exterior, while incorporating vegetation.

The existing façade is completely dismantled, closed and with several levels and volumes, to generate a new, more open, transparent and tidy façade. This action will not only improve the interior quality of the offices but also their relationship with the immediate environment.

Responding to the proximity and height of neighboring buildings, a polluting roof previously occupied by cars is converted into a new green and productive roof.

Being lower than the neighboring buildings, it is designed as the fifth facade of the building. It introduces landscaped areas and a pergola of photovoltaic panels that, in addition to producing energy, will reduce direct sunlight.

The access to the building is made by one of its corners, through an elevated porch on the street and in contact with an interior hall to double height that welcomes the users and contributes permeability to the ground floor. For wheeled access to the building, the existing ramp and basement in the building are maintained, taking advantage of them for parking use.

The intervention also aims to optimize the location of the cores of stairs and elevators by grouping them at the ends of each floor to leave in this way large spaces that allow a very flexible organization.

The office floors, of between 1,400 and 1,800 m² of open work space, are staggered as we go up, generating in all of them terraces accessible on both sides.

The creation of these exterior spaces in the building not only allows the cleaning of facades without the need for auxiliary means, but also enhances the benefits of biophilia in the work environment by including vegetation in these spaces. In addition, this plant filter on the terraces controls the solar incidence on the facades, contributing to the “cool island” effect.