Offices for Junta de Castilla y León in Zamora

OFFICES FOR JUNTA DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN IN ZAMORA

Technical data:

Architects:   Alberto Campo Baeza
Pablo Fernández Lorenzo
Pablo Redondo Díez
Alfonso González Gaisán
Francisco Blanco Velasco

Location:   Obispo Manso, 1. ZAMORA

Client:    Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Hacienda

Timing: competition  2004
project   2006
construction  2008-2012
   
Area:    12.100 m2

Architects collaborators: 

Ignacio Aguirre López
Miguel Ciria Hernández

Other collaborators:  

Alejandro Cervilla García
Emilio Delgado Martos
Petter Palander
Sergio Sánchez Muñoz

Structural engineer:  Eduardo Díez - IDEEE

Mechanical engineer:  Úrculo Ingenieros

Cuantity surveyor:  Juan José Bueno Crespo

Glass consultant:   José Pablo Calvo Busello

Construction:
Contractor:  UTE Edificio Consejo Consultivo: Dragados - San Gregorio
Stone work:  Areniscas de los Pinares
Glass curtain:  PROINLLER
Roofing installation: Intemper
Stainless steel work: DACIN
Concrete paving:  ARGAPREF
Painted resin paving: Rinol Rocland Suesco, S.L.
Gypsum board work: Zamorana de Aislamientos Termo-acústicos
Wood work:  Hnos. García Santiago, S.A.
Elevators:   Schindler
HVAC:   Atil Cobra
Lighting:   Agosa
Furnitures:  NUAR (Sellex), DACIN, Ciprés (Formica)
Gardening:  Viveros Gimeno Salamanca S.l.
Awning/curtains:  Ladis Protección Solar S.l.   

Photografy:   Javier Callejas Sevilla

BUILDING WITH AIR

The offices of the Castilla León Junta in Zamora

In collaboration with Pablo Fernández Lorenzo, Pablo Redondo Díez, Alfonso González
Gaisán and Francisco Blanco Velasco

To build with air, the abiding dream of every architect:

Facing the cathedral and following the outline of the former convent’s kitchen garden,
we erect a strong stone wall box open to the sky. Its walls and floors entirely   made of
stone. The very same stone as the Cathedral. A real Hortus Conclusus. In the corner
facing the cathedral, a massive stone measuring 250x150x50, a veritable Cornerstone.
And chiselled on that stone:

HIC LAPIS ANGULARIS MAIO MMXII POSITO

 

Within the stone box, a glass box, only glass.  Like a greenhouse. With a double facade
similar to a Trombe wall. The external skin of the facade is made of glass, each single
sheet measuring 600x300x1,2 and all joined together simply with structural silicone and
hardly anything else. As if entirely made of air.

The trihedral upper angles of the box are made completely with glass, thus even further
accentuating the effect of transparency. Precisely what Mies was looking for in his
Friedrichstrasse tower. The trihedron built with air, a true Glass Corner. And engraved
in acid on the glass:

HOC VITRUM ANGULARIS MAIO MMXII POSITO

The stone box made from Memory.  With its Cornerstone deeply rooted in the soil.
The glass box made for the Future. With its Glass Corner blending into the sky.

To build with air, the abiding dream of every architect.