As part of a general study being carried out to upgrade several of the group’s facilities, SORGAL S.A. requested us to lead a Conception/Construction process to rehabilitate a small office facility in a model factory, the Lamarosa Unit. An infrastructure from the 70’s, the existing building was outdated in many ways, and was unable to provide the needed workflow of a contemporary office. It comprised an area dedicated to conventional office programme but also areas concerning the factory support services, changing rooms, showers, sanitary facilities.
Studio Name: EMBAIXADA
Design Team: Albuquerque Goinhas, Cristina Mendonça, Nuno Griff
Area: 450 sq.m
Year: 2017/2018
Location: Torres Novas, Portugal
Consultants: PFV engineering
Photography Credits: MTG (Mercês Tomaz Gomes)
The proposed intervention maintained the external carcass of the structure and totally scooped its labyrinthic interior transforming it into a big container. On the facades, the structural rhythm was amplified, all the window frames and glass were changed, and the sequence of voids, enclosed walls, reworked.
In order to address the changes that contemporary offices assisted on the past ears, a big multifunctional room was created. A place for institutional meetings, skype conferences, but also a place that could harbour teams temporary displaced and working from there. Taking this key space as the reference, the building was then organised in a longitudinal division, one big translucent open space for the office and an opaque sequence of small spaces for infrastructures.
To serve those spaces and qualify its ambiance, a big cupboard was designed. This piece of furniture more than just its functionality, negotiates the boundary between the office spaces and the infrastructural spaces, giving direction and meaning to the space as an all.