Located in Tenerife, one of the most populated islands in Spain, the second prize winning proposal for the ITER Building Technology Park settles in like a crater, relating to its volcanic surroundings. Estudio Lunar‘s design consists of two elements, the first one contains the program which is situated in the terrain interacting with it; and the second element that is situated over the terrain and only touches it to create the main access in the north protecting the building from the prevalent winds coming from the north-east. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The building looks into the courtyard, the heart of the crater, that is the meeting point, organizes the access and the connections with the other buildings. In this courtyard there are some fissures that communicates the laboratories and research areas with the exterior. These small courtyards create a series of visual connections between all the spaces that looks over the outside creating a complex and interesting spatiality for the users of the building.
The upper ring contains the most representative program and the one that requires best lighting conditions. In these two floors inside the ring there are three kind of spaces: the parametric balcony, programmatic boxes and the interior space. The interior space is continuous and is where we placed the research places or the library. The boxes are situated between the interior and the exterior and they are spaces that need more privacy like classrooms or workshops and whose access are always facing the parametric balcony. The circulation area faces the inner courtyard and will remain as the epicenter of the activity.
The upper ring has a cover of panels of two different materials: photovoltaic cells and volcanic stone. These two materials are combined adapting to the orientation, so the panels on the south front will have 90% of photovoltaic cells and 10% of stone, percentages that will change gradually until it gets to the north front which will be mainly stone. These panels can turn with a domotic system around a central axis to reach the maximum exploitation of the solar energy.
The roof of the building offers 2800 m2 for solar panels with the peak conditions. On the underground floors we have the most essential natural energetic systems: natural isolation, solar protection, cross ventilation, and thermic inertia. The underground levels take advantage of all the energy accumulated in the ground as a natural isolation, keeping a stable temperature during all the year without needing any additional energy contribution. The small courtyards system that organizes the program underground offers natural light and cross ventilation to renew the air inside.
Architects: Estudio Lunar Location: Tenerife, Spain Team: Conxa Gené, Joan Alomar, Javier Íñigo, Carmen Largacha Collaborator: Lunar vision Client: Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables (ITER) Program: Laboratories, office, library, congress center, parking Built Surface: 16,000 m2 Status: 2nd prize Date of the Competition: October 2012
