Office Building of the Social Security Treasury

The building is situated in Ciutat Vella district. Its overall appearance is that of a glass box protected by a translucent metallic filter, which screens the light and the views.

The building is organized in three overlapping volumes whose rotation among them has been suggested by the geometry of the buildable lot: the transparent volume of the ground floor adopts the geometry of the site. This floor establishes a continuing relationship with the public space in which it is situated. The volume of first to fourth floors regains the alignment of the street l’Om, and creates, with the projection originated by this shift, a large porch that frames and protects the building entrance.

This shift enables the offices to have a rectangular floor plan absolutely regular, which facilitates distribution and allows maximum flexibility of use. At the same time it creates more space on the side square.

The third volume of the fifth and sixth floors is guided by a turn in between the two previous volumes. The fact that this third volume is smaller than the lower one, generates a terrace accessible to the users of the building from the fifth floor. The need for natural light which is determined by the administrative use of the building is resolved with the large windows in facade which are protected from the incidence of direct solar radiation through a continuous envelope of aluminum slats.

These slats give identity to the building facades: they are arranged horizontally along the main facades of the building (longitudinal facades) and in vertical on the beams. The use of a framed structure with pillars in facade allows open floor plans that are organized from two vertical cores, leaving the rest of the surface free. The partitioning is done through lightweight partition wall. In this way, the building allows a versatility of occupation in time.