Below, different building systems are explained from a constructive point of view.
Building envelope.-
- A facade of the highest thermal and acoustic insulation (double glazing, inert gas chamber, ...). Brise-soleils are designed for energy simulation to optimize the entry of natural light, avoiding the direct sunlight and allowing the outside views.
- The tests performed show that the air conditioning systems requires two hours less of daily consumption compared with other buildings without these elements.
Brise-soleils.-
Screens are fixed pieces, although many people think otherwise. The orientation of the slats changes in each façade, according to sunlight.
These are pieces of steel coated with carbon-fibre-reinforced polyester and lacquered white. The design of these pieces is based on the human scale, the figure of a person sitting and standing are the positions of a worker in the office area, in order to generate a balance.
Brise-soleils have various widths to achieve a relatively smooth surface on the outside. The brise-soleils of a single height are placed along the whole facade and double brise-soleils are placed on entrances or connecting areas. Moreover, the pieces protect from direct solar incidence and allow the opening of exterior views, allowing light to enter all spaces. Thanks to these brise-soleils it is possible to have a 49,000 m² glazed surface that allows 90% of the interior space to have natural light, thus generating huge energy savings.
Composition of glass.-
The glass is composed of a section formed by:
- Double monolithic glass (6+6mm).
- Argon chamber of 20 mm.
- Double laminated glass (8+8 mm).
Roof.-
Moreover, it is worth highlighting that the rooftop has been treated as the fifth facade of the complex: divided into different colour zones, with landscaped areas and grouping the facilities.
Offices.-
The office buildings always have 3 floors, but due to the topography of the site, the slabs are adapted in order to allow views of the outside. Closed working places disappear in these offices, the architect designs three standards of modular workstations that allowvery flexible location, no one in the bank except the council has a closed office. There are areas for informal meeting, which area modulation element.
Phase 1, New Headquarters for BBVA by Herzog & de Meuron. Photography © Sergio Cidoncha, METALOCUS.
La Vela.-
The elevation of "la Vela" is used at different scales throughout the project, it is a symbol. It seems to be an ovoid, but it is has a different geometry with 36 radiuses of curvature. The orientation of the volume is north-south. The building shell is made of glass and therefore the architect designed a 1.40 meter cantilever for the south facade, to avoid problems caused by excessive solar radiation in the interior space.
The outer coating of the curvature will be made of treatedstainless steel plates to avoid a counter productive effect on drivers, since the building is clearly visible from the A1 motorway.
Construction of "la Vela", phase 2. New Headquarters for BBVA by Herzog & de Meuron. Photography © Sergio Cidoncha, METALOCUS.
"La Vela" is 16 m wide and its longest side varies depending of the exterior curvature, generating floors with a different length in each level. The longest level is 82 meters.
This volume has a height of 93 m from the square. It rises 19 floors above the level 0 and it has 3 buried floors. The shell uses the same constructive solution as the rest of the complex, defined above, and it has less thermal conductivity thanks to apanelling system supported by an extruded-aluminium-grid, made up of uprights.
The foundation is a 4 meter thick slab. The building has a single 15 m bay with pillars every 2.4 m. The base of the curved structure was built using a falsework system until the second floor, from here on there were many problems. Acciona has invented a system similar to a steelyard to achieve the right curvature and shutter correctly. From the second floor on the curvature had a vertical axis and it could be obtained by means of a climbing formwork system. On each floor the formwork has a different curvature, therefore building a structure like this is very difficult. Each floor slab is post-tensioned in both directions and has a thickness of 30 cm.
Initially, the central structural core was shutteredusing a self-climbing system, but after the fire last summer the builder changed this system for a climbing system. The fire didn´t cause any structural problems or delays in the project completion.
CREDITS.-
Main architects.- Herzog & de Meuron.
Interior design and architectural design: Herzog & de Meuron (Core&Shell architect), SOM (Interior Architecture).
Executive architect.- Ortiz León Arquitectos.
Construction execution management.- Vicente Rubio Alonso (technical architect).
Project management.- Alberto Ruiz Villas (architect), Francisco Fernández Vallejo (horizontal building manager) y Manuel Fernández Fernández (vertical building manager, surveyor).
Health and Safety Coordination.- Gema Sanz Bodega (technical industrial engineer), José María Ruiz Carpintero (technical architect) y María Cristina Ríos Montes (industrial engineer).
Builder.- Acciona, S.A.
Client.- BBVA – Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.
Date.- 01/09/2009 - 01/11/2013 (Construction Services), 09/0/20.09 - 01/07/2010 (Construction Documents), 01/09/2008 - 01/09/2009 (Design Development), 01/09/2008 - 01/03/2009 (Schematic Design), 01/09/2007 - 30/11/2007 (Concept Design).
Milestones.- F1 Completition (05.2013), F2 Completition (12.2014).
Surface.- 252.000 m² (built area), 114.000 m² (offices and services, 6000 employments, 3000 parking spaces).
Certification.- Objective, LEED gold.
Site.- Madrid, Spain.
Special thanks to: Elena Osorio Andrade and BBVA.
