This project involved the building expansion of the offices of a mining and rock processing company, as well as the full configuration of the interior structure of its product showroom. The total area of the project covers 3,000 sq.m. and its construction took place from 2020 to 2023. The architectural composition has relied on the reinterpretation of the realm of the Company's quarries through the feeling of hovering at the intercept of the rocky terrain and the absolute sense of freedom of the landscape route.
Hovering is achieved through the interpenetration of the intermediate level bridge at the junction of the two curved spatial surfaces, made of metal elements on which the exhibits are placed. As visitors walk around, they experience the quarry space as a landscape route with plants, rocks and alternations of spatial perception, through a system of multiple multi-sensory experiences.
The process of transition starts at the entrance, goes inside the landscape route of the ground space and extends to the composition of the museum area of the quarries, culminating on the first floor of the showroom. This route becomes more meaningful when connected to the entrance to the office spaces at the intermediate level. Special sections have been designed inside the showroom for displaying the museum exhibits from the quarry, along with seating areas, entertainment areas and gathering spaces.
The spaces where a piano and an underground cellar have been placed are of interest. The logic of the ground engravings continues within the office spaces, where 40 workstations are located. Floor engravings are made of black granite, whereas the remaining surfaces are covered with slate and carpet lanes. The office space deploys on 3 levels, each of which is accessed by a patio with a vertical drive core on one side.
Traversing between the 3 different levels is effected through a metal spiral staircase, whereas its transition is described as an experience of spatial change between levels. The architectural composition is complemented by boulders from the Company's quarries, defining specific routes, stops and motions. The large-scale boulders have been processed in such a way as to denote the rough treatment of the natural rock’s form, thereby referring both conceptually and spatially to the experience of passing through a quarry site.
The composition is refined through processing the multiple surfaces of the showroom, being a unique spatial condition where materials are placed as a narrative of an experiential feeling, thus constituting a fragmentary signification of the visitors’ walking experience, giving birth to multiple references and meanings, conceptually linked to the roughness of the matter and the tactile condition of architecture in general.
