AAN complex, Salamanca

The area is located on the border between big, horizontal university buildings, and some residential properties with smaller footprint but greater vertical height.In search of a smooth transition, we suggest a design with this duality. An extensive base punctuated by three vertical volumesMorphological blending

The area is located on the border between big, horizontal university buildings, and some residential properties with smaller footprint but greater vertical height.In search of a smooth transition, we suggest a design with this duality. An extensive base punctuated by three vertical volumes

Perspective blending

The vertical volumes are situated such that from the future Portugal Avenue, one can still make out the Cathedral as a reference point with which the traveller can get his bearings with respect to the Historic District.Capitalising on the unevenness of the property, the common body on which they are seated doesn’t rise above the brow of the hill of the avenue, thereby offering the plant-covered roofs as a soft, spongy space, framing a vision of the Cathedral from the road.

Identity

The three centres are identifiable as independent volumes on top of a single base. The shared base provides a common identity as a place dedicated to research, within a broad concept of biology.

Group

Certain facilities and services can be optimised by taking into account some areas that are common to the three centres, and centralising the following elements:– Visitors: Access points. Parking lot. Open spaces. Cafeteria.– Infrastructures: Emergency generator. Air conditioning. Waste management and toxic waste management. Refrigeration. Refrigeration towers. – Maintenance. Workshop. Storage area.

Function Layering / Thermal layering

The special sensibility of some of the program elements in each of the three centres means that stepped access points on the grounds is recommended. The clean zones remain especially protected, as much against intrusions as against interferences that come from outside, such as radiation, vibration, etc.Taking advantage of the stepped structure of the access points, it is easy to programme graduated air conditioning, avoiding zones of strong contrast, minimising the energy losses and improving the comfort level, and also ensuring the maximum stability in sensitive areas and in the laboratories.

Vertical arrangement

The programme groupings are sectioned, reinforcing the stepped concept.That permits, at the same time, that the most fragmented uses occur across the horizontal plane in order to give them the necessary flexibility.

Flexibility

The laboratories require a variable distribution over time, to accommodate the different configurations of the research programs.This design permits different segmenting that can either unify spaces or fragment them according to emerging necessities, always with the optimal service from the service ring.

Double skin

The best orientations for the sun, south and southeast, are closed in with glass equipped with canopies that permit energy absorption in winter, energy neutralization in summer, and always retain optimal lighting conditions.In the intermediate wall faces, are self-regulating mechanisms that are capable of managing the energy gains and losses by means of convective air movements and systems that capture solar energy.The upper faces are covered with two types of vegetation in order to maximise their insulating capacity and their hydrothermal inertia.

Naturalization

The north-facing facades are dedicated to purposes with lower heating requirements, such as circulation, and are protected with maximum insulation, avoiding any type of gap and every type of thermal bridge, reinforcing the protection with a layer of vegetation.