The studio Hombre de Piedra Arquitectos uses non-orthogonal shapes that recall the organic underwater world, with open angles that encourage circulation and fluid flows of users. Modular industrialized architecture is used, which gives the building a coherent shape and size.
The interior geometry of pentagons is finished with large skylights, which resemble mollusks, inspired by Roman mosaics or trencadís. The light coming from the skylights suggests an underwater landscape, creating a pleasant atmosphere. The interior metal structure remains visible as in the old Catalan markets.
Tarragona public passenger terminal by Hombre de Piedra Arquitectos. Photograph by Simón García
Project description by Hombre de Piedra Arquitectos
The off-site modular industrialized architecture projected for this terminal uses a non-orthogonal geometry, which facilitates the movement of passengers and allows easy adaptation to future needs. The open angles of this geometry favor the passenger flows (which would be hindered with right angles) and the modularity allows a coherent evolution in size and shape of the buil-ding. The proposed geometry also represents a victory of the organic underwater world over the hardness of concrete in the ports.
The large scale of the cruise ships gives the passenger an aerial perspective that turns the deck into the main façade of the building. A unique hatch reveals the interior geometry of penta-gons, irregular but all equal, topped by large skylights that resemble mollusks. A nod to Tarrago-na's past that ranges from Roman mosaics, trencadis and the marine motifs typical of Gaudian fantasy.
Internally, this lively geometry is drawn in the metal structures that are visible on the ceiling, like those of the old Catalan markets. The interior natural light is designed to suggest an underwater landscape that makes transit much more pleasant.
This architecture offers other objective advantages.
Sustainability.
The project reduces waste by 55% and CO2 emissions by 60%, is easily expandable, dismantled, transportable and recyclable, with an energy efficiency rating of A.
Time-frames, quality and reliability.
Executed in a short period of time and reliably. Time is always money, especially when it comes to occupying a port dock with a construction site. Furthermore, rapid construction avoids incon-venience to the citizen and continued attacks on the landscape and the environment. Its cons-truction using modular industrialized architecture has allowed the bulk of the work to be carried out in less than 10 months. Modular construction has given reliability and quality to construction, avoiding the uncertainty and chaos that traditional works entail due to their artisanal nature and the shortage of qualified personnel. Most of the work has been manufactured in Almería.
Economy.
The special project strategy and its architecture have given the construction a cost below the average for this type of public transport buildings with high regulatory and installation require-ments. For example, the lightness of the building has allowed considerable savings in founda-tions. If it had been a heavy conventional construction, the limited load-bearing capacity of this dock reclaimed from the sea would have forced the use of very deep piles anchored to the seabed, which would have made the construction considerably more expensive.
