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Architects: 57STUDIO
- Area: 1500 m²
- Year: 2015
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Photographs:Caco Oportot
Text description provided by the architects. Grupo Sud is the conversion of an old perfume factory into an open work space for a holding of 4 companies that are fully integrated in the marketing, production, design and communication areas. The building is located in the city of Santiago, in the "Italia" neighborhood that encompasses design, art and decoration luxury stores.
The site, 20 meters wide by 75 meters deep, comprised a series of warehouses constructed at different points in time that had been expanded and subdivided throughout that same time. The project entailed the restoration of the sequence of spaces and their reorganization so as to serve the needs of the companies, mainly offices for a work force of about a hundred people.
There was a very limited budget and a tight schedule of only five months for the project’s execution. Decisions had to be careful and strategic. In order to achieve this, two main actions were proposed: to remove what was useless and to reuse what existed. Removing and reusing the elements of subdivision restored the communication between the different warehouses and resulted in more fluid and brighter spaces: the ideal environment for an integrated and team work approach.
The intervention aimed to reveal and contrast the old and the new. Longstanding thick walls, textures and high ceilings are opposed to the new lighter and transparent elements, minimally scaled to satisfy the user’s needs. The color palette is neutral to maintain the quietness and to highlight the ample spaces. The white, with different levels of shine, was used as a foundation to unify and revalue the spaces through light. The floors were kept gray while some accents were incorporated on walls through the use of color or by revealing the brick layer.
The new divisions were made of glass, seeking to dilute boundaries and to contrast these new elements of straight and defined edges to the imprecisions of the old. The new climate and electricity control panels were highlighted in galvanized metal, moving in an orderly fashion through the neutrality of the white background. Both the furniture and the lamps were designed by 57STUDIO following the same premise of identity and contrast over a recycled space as a backdrop.
