Vincente Guallart
”In the digital world, we should reinvent globalization in such a way that we produce resources locally—energy, elements, and things—while we are globally connected.”
Lucas Epp
" China is definitely the largest market outside North America. But what is missing is local manufacture which can produce good quality woods that can be used in large constructions. "
Dr. Maarten Hajer
"When talking about wood urbanism, the importance is by re-relating nature to the society and finding a way to do it in a sustainable manner and that by no means is easy"
Ortiz Leon Architects
"Spain is the second country with the highest number of LEED certifications in the world."
The Talks
Interviewee
Francisco Nicolás | OL Architects
Credits
Interviewer
Tong Yan
Published
June 1, 23
1. A Pioneering architecture firm
Ortiz Leon Architects from Spain was established in 1984. The two founders, Iñigo Ortiz and Enrique León, hope that architecture is not just for design and art, but serves people's lives, and is closely related to the surrounding environment interactively. Therefore, they have always followed the concept of environmental protection and sustainable development in architectural design, which not only includes design itself, but also the materials will be used, or even when the building reaches its "end of life", all materials hopefully will be recycled or reused.
Such a concept, in the construction industry more than 20 years ago, was regarded as non mainstream and too progressive. But the two Spanish architects insisted on retaining their own principles, and their stubbornness was reflected in a building called Sanitas in Madrid. Without the help of any software or tools, they designed the building using hand drawing and injected these pioneering environmental protection concepts into every detail of the building.
In view of the long summer in Spain and the scorching sun, this medical building did not have windows that can be opened. Instead, transparent glazing is used to allow the maximum amount of light while keeping the heat out of the glass window. The "windows" of the building are designed in the form of the inner atrium, that is, the windows face inward, and the ventilation flows in from the roof and is adjusted according to the indoor temperature, thereby reducing the dependence on air conditioning. In addition, green plants are also planted in the atrium, which has a cooling effect and makes people who use this space feel close to nature. Only eight materials were used in the construction of the entire building, all of which can be recycled at a later date without leaving any waste.
After more than two decades, the building was acquired by a new owner, who wanted to apply for LEED certification and evaluated which improvements were required. After inspection, they found that the condition of the building itself had already reached the LEED Gold standard.
This is a living proof of that, from the very beginning, OrtizLeon Architects have been a leader in sustainability and green buildings.
THE TALKS
Ortiz Leon Architects
Spanish international architects firm Ortiz Leon Architects has been specializing in green buildings for almost forty years. They designed the first LEED certified project in Europe, the Alvento Business Park in Madrid. The ARQBÓREA project is a milestone in green building, scoring in the top 1% of most sustainable projects in Europe. Design Warehouse interviewed Francisco Nicolas, Asia Pacific Managing Director, about the firm's green design philosophy, its relationship with wood and its focus on sustainable building.
2. Participation in the development of green building certification in Spain
When it comes to environmentally friendly buildings, people might first think of the Nordic countries. In fact, Spain has always been at the forefront in the field of construction and environmentally friendly concepts. Whether it is in Madrid or Barcelona, every city in Spain has old and innovative buildings, and has attracted many internationally renowned architects to participate in Spanish architecture. But Spanish architecture is not limited to nice looking designs and they have been walking on the road of innovation and environment protection.
As for OrtizLeon Architects, they participated in introducing the Green building council and LEED system from the United States to Europe. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building rating certification system established in 2000 by U.S. Green Building Council to assess whether building performance meets sustainability.
Because of the introduction of the LEED system, Spain is the second country with the highest number of LEED certifications in the world, only after the United States. In Ortiz Leon's architectural resumé, almost every work is full of sustainable aspirations from their professional team.
"Spain is the second country with the highest number of LEED certifications in the world."
3. Shift to Wood
As a leader in sustainable architecture, OrtizLeon has always considered wood as a building material for development, but it has not been able to do so because of the high cost of wood and low demand from the market. Factories that can process wood are also scarce. A few years ago, they happened to cooperate with the famous British architect Norman Foster to transform a historic abandoned warehouse in Madrid into an office building.
The whole design is bold and avant-garde, the idea is simply to build a building inside this building, which requires the use of light materials. Between steel and wood, the firm chose the latter.
The final design move was to create a light timber structure, chestnut clad over spruce glulam embedded in the space. The building materials used are made entirely of sustainably sourced wood from the forests of northern Spain, which reduces the carbon footprint of transporting it from far away while supporting the indigenous wood industry. As for the treatment of the wood, they wereshipped to the nearest factory based in Italy, because at that moment there was no local industry able to process this amount. Of course, they also take long-term environmental protection into consideration, and these wooden materials will be recyclable and detachable in the future. The whole space is flexible and simple, while also integrating lighting, ventilation and other factors that take care of human comfort.
Sede Sanitas BUPA
Naturgy: first timber curtain wall, reducing 70% carbon footprint.
Ombú: abandoned warehouse renovation project in collaboration with Norman Foster
RECOMENDED READINGS
Vincente Guallart
Self-sufficient cities
Lucas Epp
" China is definitely the largest market outside North America. But what is missing is local manufacture which can produce good quality woods that can be used in large constructions "
Dr. Maarten Hajer
"When talking about wood urbanism, the importance is by re-relating nature to the society and finding a way to do it in a sustainable manner and that by no means is easy"
Ortiz Leon Architects
"Spain is the second country with the highest number of LEED certifications in the world."
ARQBÓREA scored in the top 1% of LEED Platinum projects
Interviewee
Ortiz Leon Architects
Interviwer
Tong Yan
Published
June 1, 23
4. Making Buildings Sustainability, Biophilia and Happiness.
Today, people's awareness of environmentally friendly buildings has spanned several levels. At the beginning, it was only about energy saving. Natural energy like wind energy or solar energy start being used. To the point where we now realize that if we don't take into account recycling at the end of the life cycle, there is a risk that energy efficient products will end up being another form of pollution.This is the reason why the concept of biophilia has matured into mainstream when we talk about sustainability.
The award-winning ARQBÓREA designed by Ortizleon Architects is the best embodiment of biophilia concept. The building is completely oriented north-south, regardless of the plot or the street. There is space at the entrance to plant more vegetation, allowing users to establish a connection with nature when entering the building, thereby enhancing satisfaction and happiness. The east-west façade is a double-layer skin, using trees and vines instead of sunshade louvers. When the four seasons alternate, the density of the leaves changes, which can meet the sunshade needs of the building.
At the same time, the façade of the project will continue to grow over time. For the facades with different orientations, different technical solutions are applied to deal with the angle of sunlight incidence, and strive to maximize the comfort of indoor users and ensure that each floor has a view of the natural landscape. Plants extend from the garden to the building, providing users with outdoor landscaped terraces on every floor, ensuring close contact with nature on every floor.
In fact, the ARQBÓREA was inspired entirely by the Sanitas medical building built by the two founders, , with a dynamic lighting system that adapts to people’s circadian rhythms, an electric vehicle intelligent charging system, and temperature control with recognition and mobile phones. The turnstiles of access... a work of perfect combination of architecture, nature and technology.
For an office, such a design is unusual, but Mr. Nicolas said that it did not take much effort to convince the client. After all, OrtizLeon has obtained the award for the best office building in Spain six times in the past eight years. Today, both the government and international corporate companies have high expectations for sustainability standards in buildings. Sustainable living is not just about organic food or second-hand clothes, it also spills over to areas like living and working environments.
To summarize, Mr. Nicolas said, in fact, anyone can understand the principle of sustainable architecture, "Think about going camping in summer, would you choose to be under the sun or under the shade of trees?" Sustainable architecture is a game between architects and nature， finding the right amount of balance.