The proposal for the Corporate Headquarters for Doctors Without Borders transforms an existing building in the 22@ district into a new functional and biophyllic space designed for people.
The existing building was a ground floor plus four and rooftop industrial building that had undergone several transformations along its lifespan. The most relevant transformation took place in 2003 when the building experienced a total renovation shifting its use from industrial to office space. The communications and service cores were modified to fulfill the standing regulations disregarding the resulting conditions in the workspace. The building occupied almost all of the lot's surface generating very deep spaces with hardly any natural lightning nor ventilation. The rooftop was devoted exclusively for machinery.
“The project adds different strategies to improve the building's existing conditions”.
A new tiered green patio is proposed, improving lightning and ventilation of interior spaces. The tiered section improves lightning to all levels and generates terraces extending the work spaces with new meeting and working spaces. A staircase is added to the patio strengthening the connection between floors and fostering healthy habits. Vegetation becomes the main character of most exterior spaces fostering biodiversity and generating biophyllic spaces.
The ground floor is understood as an extension of the street relating directly with the main elevation and access to the building. The main lobby is designed as a very multifunctional space incorporating different elements of the program; the bicycle parking space and front desk at the building's main entrance, the auditorium and foyer directly linked to the entrance and the green patio as a backdrop.
The flexible workspace is placed on the four floors organized around the new central patio fostering the relation with the terraces and vegetation. The floor-plans are arranged with a large open central space hosting the workspace and two lateral stripes, placed along the building's party walls, hosting vertical communication cores, hygiene chambers, closed meeting rooms and offices and the resting areas.
The new productive and dynamic rooftop generates exterior meeting and production spaces. It has two main areas, the main terrace linked with the central courtyard and the main elevation hosting the living and meeting spaces lushly planted and protected by mobile awnings, adding features such as the photovoltaic panel pergola and mobile canopies improving the space's comfort attributes. The other area is destined to the buildings technical services taking advantage of existing elements such as the metal pergola to add photovoltaic panels.
“Strategies not only provide a response to client's needs and the building's operation, but they also take into account the effect of the different actions and the election of materials prioritizing a sustainable design, respectful with the environment and committed to a shift in paradigm understanding the climate emergency situation we are facing”.
