Garducho Biological Station

In a protected area, classified as Natura 2000 Network, the intervention looks to organize the functional program transforming the three existing buildings in order to allow the biggest area for the requested program, with the lesser occupation of the ground. The buildings act as elements of support to a structure that is raised above ground and that keeps itself suspended, organizing a set of patios and pathways between the several functional parts, allowing to preserve the ground intact and permeable. The construction is raised a meter above the highest quota of the ground, defining private patios around the residence building and designing an entrance, on the opposite side of the 55 x 27,5 meters rectangle, where the ground becomes lower.

The center of the set is marked by a bigger patio, which organizes the buildings, the covered exterior spaces and the pathways of the station around it. At ground level, the suspended plans fit long horizontal views of the surrounding landscape. Because of it's extreme isolation, the station as to remain self-suficient in terms of energy and water supplies, that is possible due to the photovoltaic panels set in the roofs, and by a deposit that stores the rainwater. The insulation system is based on a steambaked insulation corkboard cover with a reinforced plaster finish. In the ground parts of the building, the cork insulation remains visible. The exterior pavements are made of reused wood pieces (sleepers) from dismantled railway lines.