Zamora Offices / Alberto Campo Baeza

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

Architects: Alberto Campo Baeza
Location: , Spain
Design Team: , Pablo Fernández Lorenzo, Pablo Redondo Díez, Alfonso González Gaisán, Francisco Blanco Velasco
Area: 12,100 sqm
Year: 2012
Photographs: Javier Callejas Sevilla, Courtesy of Alberto Campo Baeza

Collaborators: Ignacio Aguirre López, Miguel Ciria Hernández
Other Collaborators: Alejandro Cervilla García, Emilio Delgado Martos, Petter Palander, Sergio Sánchez Muñoz
Structural: Eduardo Díez – IDEEE
Installations: Úrculo Ingenieros
Rigger: Juan José Bueno Crespo
Glass Consultant: José Pablo Calvo Busello
Contractor: UTE Edificio Consejo Consultivo: Dragados
Promotor: Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Hacienda

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

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

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:

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

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.

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

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:

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

HOC VITRUM ANGULARIS MAIO MMXII POSITO

The stone box made from Memory.  With its Cornerstone deeplyrooted in the soil.

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

The glass box made for the Future. With its Glass Corner blending into the sky.

Section
* Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
Cite: "Zamora Offices / Alberto Campo Baeza" 10 Dec 2012. ArchDaily. Accessed 24 May 2013. <http://www.archdaily.com/304715>

17 comments

  5. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    amazing location, amazing result.
    Elegance is not something you can learn, Campo Baeza makes it look easy

    Reply
  7. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    just sublime… as usual! In line with previous projects and architectural language from Baeza master.

    Reply
  8. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    simply amazing! ‘em sure Steve would from head to toe fall in love with this if he were alive~

    Reply
  9. Thumb up Thumb down +2

    What about energy saving? One more greenhouse that can be cooled without a excessive energy spending? We are too technicians not only poets. I think too that Campo had made this project before, it’s not new.
    On the other side, I like the way they solve the placing of a modern object into the historical urban fabric.

    Reply
  13. Thumb up Thumb down -3

    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

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  15. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    anyone, who visited villa Tugendhat or Mies pavilion in Barcelona must feel, that this is another piece of timeless beauty.

    Reply

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