Cardboard Office Red Cross on the Street

A few meters from its current headquarters in Granada, Red Cross decides to expand its facilities on the ground floor of a residential block at the end of the central boulevard of the city. The space was suitable for both purposes. On the one hand, it offered a generous surface area and height (5 metres) to fit the requested programme: multipurpose classroom for cultural and training activities, group work space, offices and service spaces. On the other hand, its strategic urban position and its triangular geometry, with three facades facing the public road, made it a very exposed place.

The proposal implements, in the irregularity of the plot, the requested uses maximizing the surface area of the common work space which runs parallel to the main north-facing façade. The offices are located on the south side, while the multipurpose room is built taking advantage of the depth of the boundary wall with the adjacent premises. The service uses (toilets and facilities) are attached to the dividing wall with the entrance to the housing block. This arrangement promotes maximum transparency and flexibility of the work space, both inside and outside, so that the divisions are resolved through the furniture: cupboards, lockers and lattices. If the enclosures inside do not reach the ceiling to allow light, on the outside the opening of the façade takes the possibilities of the openings to the extreme. To intensify the inside-outside relationship, a continuous bench runs linearly along the north façade creating a meeting place between the Red Cross and the city,

The project proposes a new way of understanding the organization's relationship with society. The cardboard, a recycled and recyclable element, is introduced as a material capable of symbolizing the Red Cross's firm commitment to sustainable and environmentally conscious action. A single element, the tube (in 10 and 20 cm formats), supports the proposal in combination with MDF (another recyclable material) to create a raw yet warm space. The cardboard acts as a structural material, an enclosure, a lighting fixture, a false ceiling, a light louver, an acoustic trap, and a filter for ventilation air (supply and return). Manufactured with renewable, biodegradable, and highly recyclable raw materials (more than 25 times without loss of quality), the cardboard tubes are re contextualized, displaced from their original industrial purpose to contribute to the circular economy of an interior design project thanks to an element with more than 90% of its components that can be reused.