-
Architects: Alday Jover Arquitectura y Paisaje
- Year: 2008
On the occasion of the construction of the Water Expo 2008 in Zaragoza, the buildings housing facilities related to producing and transforming energy with a high level of technical and urban demand are located to the north of the Ranillas meander.
In this case, the DHC (District Heating and Cooling) building is a Trigeneration plant that provides heating and cooling to all new buildings in the Meander in addition to co-generating electricity for the urban network. This is a facility that would normally be located on the outskirts of the city or in industrial areas, and which in certain fields like the 2004 Barcelona Forum would adopt concealment strategies. In this case, concealment is not an option and the building cannot be buried due to the flooding of the area. Instead, we choose to manifest a desire for visibility and urban quality.
The building is designed with exposed concrete walls, colored gray both inside and outside, with a supporting skin structure 25 centimeters thick. The boiler room has a light roof designed with corrugated polycarbonate sheets where, under each wave, a line of RGB LED lights is placed, each controlled individually by a lighting control system that generates images. This great screen 20x20 meters, for the projection of images, is completed with another screen at ground level, 4 meters high and 30 meters long with the same characteristics.
At night, when the building is closed to the public, light and images on the polycarbonate outer panels indicate the type of energy being generated and its intensity. The system, connected to the energy central control, translates the operation of the plant into color and moving image, which measures and expresses the energy being produced, turning the building into an indicator that depends on the weather and its users.
