ELEMENTAL, ENERGIA DE PORTUGAL (EDP) HEADQUARTER, LISBON
Elemental, a Do Tank managed by Alejandro Aravena, Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Víctor Oddó and Diego Torres, has designed the HQ of EDP (Energia de Portugal) in downtown Lisbon. This signature project combines monumental features with environmental sustainability and blends into its work setting-environment through the concept ‘humanistic functionalism’.
As the architectural designers stated in their brief: “This project had to solve a kind of paradox, two forces pulling in opposite directions: on the one hand it had to comply with a Masterplan that required a continuity of the public space from the hills to the river (north-south direction) resulting in a splitting of the building’s mass into two linear volumes. On the other hand, the building had to be able to function as one single entity; so the 2 linear volumes had to be connected in the east-west direction threatening the north-south continuity of the public space.
So, in order to respond to both forces simultaneously, we folded the ground of the public space with a slight slope that complied with the hill-river continuity and then connected the two linear volumes under the highest point of the folded ground.
This artificial sloping ground offered the opportunity to solve another issue of the lot: being on the second row of Lisbon’s urban grid, the visual continuity towards the river was more theoretical than real. The building of EDP across the street, even though as a general massing complied with the north-south continuity, at the pedestrian level blocked any perception of the river.
So, we laid a concrete piece that by resting on the slope, cantilevered towards the river, gaining enough height to be able to lean over the adjacent building achieving a clear view of the Tajo. The square at the core of the complex is exclusively public. To preserve this point, the access of the building is on the south front, participating but not dominating this public square. A public Café at the ground also contributes to the civic character of the neighbourhood.
SUSTAINABILITY & CHARACTER
The proposal considers architectural operations that are energetically efficient while contributing to setting the right character of the building. For example, the public square at the core of the lot was treated as if it was a carved concrete monolith to both ensure energetic thermal mass and provide a civic monumentality to the complex by erasing the notion of floor. As opposite, on the peripheral facades, a rather deep grid of linear elements with recessed glass works as a sunshade systemto avoid direct sun radiation, while expressing the scale of the different floors and thus providing domesticity to the working environment.
HUMANISTIC FUNCTIONALISM
Finally, the building’s ultimate purpose is to provide the right environment for people to work, as it is an opportunity to drastically improve people’s daily quality of life. The interior layout ranges from individual conventional desks to generous open meeting rooms, mixing both individual/collective and formal/informal uses of the spaces.
Immediate amenities like lounges or leisure spaces are no more than 1 floor away from every point of the plan to ensure democratic access.The inclusion of a gym on the rooftop, and a Café on the ground floor are also aimed to implement this more humanistic (and not merely functional) vision of the office of the future.
Client: EDP - Energias de Portugal; Project: ELEMENTAL; Interior Design: ELEMENTAL; Team: Alejandro Aravena, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddó, Gonzalo Arteaga, Diego Torres, Tomás Palmares, Clémence Pybaro, Suyin Chia, Mara Cruz, Federica Tebaldi, Eva Ibañez, Marta Ochoa, Simone Pio Scarano, André Barros, Valentina Rojas; Local Architect: Carrilho da Graça arquitectos Lda - João Luís Carrilho da Graça, João Marques, Francisco Freire, Nuno Pinto, Marta Martins; Engineering: AFA Consult - Rui Furtado, Pedro Pereira, Marco Carvalho, Mauro Monteiro, Paulo Silva, Raul Serafim, Maria da Luz Santiago, Rodrigo Castro; Structural engineering: AFA Consult; Electrical engineering: AFA Consult; Mechanical engineering: AFA Consult; Energy efficiency: AFA Consult; Plumbing Engineering: AFA Consult; Construction Supervision: Pengest - Rui José, Sonia Vieira. Photo: Francisco Nogueira. Site area: 3.880 m2; Total floor area: 10.950 m2 (building area) 13.490 m2 (parking area); Design phase: 2017-2018; Construction phase: 2020-2024; Materials: reinforced concrete, wood, steel, glass-fiber, glass
