Palmas Altas Campus. New Abengoa Office Complex. Seville. Spain

Campus Palmas Altas, the new headquarters of the Abengoa Group, has been designed together by Vidal y Asociados arquitectos and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to establish a new point of reference in sustainable architecture for the South of Europe. It is a project that aims to transform the typical image of a business park – a series of isolated pavilion like buildings – and create instead an authentic compact community gathered around a shared common space which will stimulate the interaction and collaboration of the staff and thereby help forge a common identity amongst the various constituent elements of the company.

The standard business park leans heavily on the imagery of the North American business park - set in a green and verdant landscape. In contrast the campus for Abengoa comprises seven buildings located around a central space which draws heavily on the traditions of Andalucía – less a park and more related to the smaller, more intimate sequence of patios and covered arcades prevalent in Andulucía.

These sequences of spaces, which form the spine of the scheme, are more easily shaded thus creating tempered spaces that on the one hand reduce the heat load on the buildings (avoiding “Heat Islands”) and on the other create a range of external spaces with different characteristics so that the common spaces can be used and enjoyed throughout the year. The massing of the large buildings is broken down by the overlapping relationship of one building to another and the subtle paved and planted spaces that weave the buildings together into a campus.

The project includes a range of environmental measures such as photovoltaic panels, a tri-generation plant and hydrogen batteries to address the issue of energy supply. In addition, energy saving measures are applied across the whole project, from the geometry of the building based on compact floorplates forms with the minimum of heat loss or heat gain at the perimeter, maximum self shading of one building to another, efficient air conditioning and lighting systems and careful selection of materials. Together these aspects of the design aim to reduce energy use. The result it is hoped will be a more sustainable office complex.