Asturfeito Headquarter, Avilés | Spain
22 september 2023
Project: Asturfeito Headquarter, Avilés | Spain
Architect: VA / Arquitectos, Oviedo | Spain
Fabricator + Installer: Fedecor, Gijón | Spain
Façade System: Tray panels SZ20
Year of Construction: 2022
Product: ALUCOBOND® PLUS solid Black
Photos: Alejandro Braña
LIGHT AND SHADOW
Dark does not necessarily equate with mystery; on the contrary, it can also produce great clarity, as is the case in this second Asturian project. Asturfeito, the mechanical engineering company, had a new three-storey, 2,000 m² building constructed in Avilés as its administrative centre. For this purpose, it selected an unfinished and abandoned reinforced concrete building shell. Making use of a ruined building is not merely very sustainable; it is also in a central location with a good infrastructure and only approximately 500 metres away from one of the company's own production halls. Employees who used to work at different locations can now work together in the new building. A step which should make working processes more transparent, communicative, productive and efficient. With these goals in mind, VA Architekten designed a building with a clearly defined geometry, streamlined forms and abundant light, which penetrates into the deepest recesses of the building through the atrium, the arcades and glass walls. The team sank window profiles into the ground, designed frameless glass balustrades and bare concrete pillars. They opted for minimalism and a business-like design in black and white, concrete and glass. Inside the building, the dark metallic façade posts and the ALUCOBOND® clad floor slabs create stark contrasts casting patterns of light and shadow behind the façade and beneath the atrium roof. Dark components, such as the ALUCOBOND® clad base, built-in furniture, individual walls and the steel staircase keep the building grounded. Looking at nothing but light and glass or dematerialised and ethereal space would be exhausting. The intense darkness and contrast has a restful effect on the eye. Depending on how the light falls, the blue-tinted glass fins set in front of the façade are the only objects which fleetingly conjure up some colour on the walls, and which at the same time offer protection from wind and noise in the harsh, industrial location.