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Metal Foundation

Baragaño

Metal Foundation
By Francesco Pagliari -

The new Fundación Metal corporate headquarters in Avilés in Spain’s ore-rich Asturias region, famous for its steel industry, is a bold architectural statement. The transfer of the steel plant from the old town centre to a new industrial zone near the port makes a site designated for heavy industry take a quantum leap. The new complex gives an urban quality to the area, all the more so since Fundación Metal is also a vocational training centre with a statutory commitment to development and innovation. [baragaño]’s programme is a weave of many threads. It pays tribute to the local industrial fabric, transposing some of its characteristically urban features to the new industrial district. At the same time, it makes experimental use of industrial materials, creating a functional complex that is also an urban entity. [baragaño]’s approach is that of the sculptor. There are clear references to the monumental works of Eduardo Chillida and Richard Serra and the way they shape their landscape. The corporate headquarters is made of the material it produces: steel. Vast expanses of large, matt-finish modular steel slabs manufactured in the region are set alongside stretches of slabs with discreet horizontal slits. Glazed sections add dynamism to the façades. As well daylighting the interiors, they create a highly effective play of solids and voids, subtly muted by the almost transparent filigree-like pattern of the perforations. Window- and doorframes are also steel, as is the furniture in both the public reception areas and training laboratories. The unconcealed structural frame is again steel. Girders and pillars have been turned into architectural features and stand like an open-air lesson on the use of civil engineering materials. On another level, steel also blends memory and the future: the structural elements have all been manufactured locally, 70% from recycled material, and in turn are completely recyclable. The construction system makes the complex resemble a...

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