Designed by Sotero Arquitetura e Urbanismo, their proposal for Renova Energia’s headquarters is a head office that interprets the general concepts of the company and invites residents to take part in this process. By exploring the production of wind energy in the state, the architects seek to meet the demands of the group. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The general program of the building provides the installation of an operation and memory center for public visitation. Different flows should be observed in order to avoid unwanted crossings. However, the visiting public should have the chance to see the plant operation, and also enjoy the building itself as a public equipment.
Wind energy turbines should be seen from the operation center throughout the energy complex. In order to make this idea possible, it was necessary to locate the control room so that all turbines could be seen in a row throughout the way. The intervention strategy was to create two different nucleons, interconnected by a walkway that sets the way to be followed by the visitors, besides shaping a central yard according to the building volume. In the main façade, a large marquee greets users, orders the flows, besides providing shadow in a bordering region between the caatinga and the cerrado.
From the access way, parallel to the building, a parking area is available with 11 places for buses and 86 places for passenger vehicles. One can reach the external atrium through an angular path up to the marquee, which in turn separates and orders the building uses. The volume to the left of the main access, measuring approximately 15x45m, divided in two floors, shelters the control room, operation sector, besides a terrace that can be visited. The memorial center is inserted in a 17x35m trapezoidal volume where the visitor walks through a path where the operation and working of the company can be seen. The auditoriums for the public are reached through this way.
The function of the central yard is to create a local micro-climate, and provide more comfort through the evaporation of the tree leaves and shading. The project further provides openings that optimize the intake and force crossed ventilation, thus avoiding the use of air conditioner. Rain water is captured to be reused and stored, besides capturing sun energy through photovoltaic plates. The use of reinforced concrete plastic meets the needs of the project, and enables the use of local labor, while material usage in its apparent condition, allows little maintenance and integrates it more easily to the rocky landscape. The walkways and brises-soleil are Corten steel, which allows them to be manufactured out of the work site and simply assembled on site.
