Denys & Von Arend’s Upholds PassivHaus in an Office – Azure Magazine

When the next generation took the helm of household-run Coatresa, a world producer of non-adhere and anti-corrosion coatings (specializing in bakery products and solutions) started in 1983, it desired to improve the interactions and connections throughout all departments — from production to company — and made the decision to deliver each factory and headquarters together in just one locale. But far more than only amalgamating the business, they also desired to create an office atmosphere that was concentrated on worker properly-currently being and gratification whilst also becoming ultra-effective with a negligible ecological impact. 

To reach the two targets, the business 1st discovered a recently built uncooked industrial house in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, a area north of Barcelona, Spain, and then known as on area inside structure studio Denys & Von Arend to rework it into a welcoming and invigorating natural environment that adhered to PassivHaus standards. In response, designers and business founders Patricia Von Arend and Nathalie Denys developed a principle centred all-around Coatresa’s non-stick coatings and affected by the “five-skin” philosophy of Austrian artist, architect and environmental activist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. 

As for every Hundertwasser’s theory, the human system is enveloped by 5 skins — the epidermis, clothes, the household, social identification and the natural environment — and every performs an vital purpose in the individual’s marriage to self and surroundings. “We developed an analogy with regard to the third pores and skin that corresponds to the household and … we begun to believe about how this 3rd pores and skin could be designed in the new office environment,” say Denys & Von Arend. 

This translated into a circular ground system that balances transparency with privacy as a result of the set up of enclosed volumes in differing heights and thoroughly positioned steel mesh space dividers that create pathways within the office — equally features acting as the “skins” that present personal areas as properly as “more permeable” kinds like meeting rooms, cellular phone booths and relaxed accumulating zones. The committed spaces are organized around the perimeter of the structure and are anchored by a central canteen with heat wooden flooring and a wide range of seating that gives workers a relaxed spot to convene in the course of the working day. 

In an additional nod to Hundertwasser, a staunch critic of straight lines, rounded corners and curved walls lead to a fluid sense of movement, while a curated palette of indigo blue and stone-gray strike a refined take note towards more industrial elements like exposed concrete beams and metal strapping on the ceiling.

Texture was brought in via the metallic mesh, padded (and acoustical) wall coverings and upholstered furnishings, which include to the space’s all round inviting richness. Deep-established windows ringing the interior allow sufficient amounts of pure light permeate and their wood frames add an additional ingredient of heat to the places of work. 

To productively satisfy PassivHaus specifications, Von Arend & Denys ensured the place of work was airtight and wrapped it with higher-high quality insulation the set up of substantial-performance home windows and doors, elimination of thermal bridging and mechanical ventilation all also lead to managed solar obtain, turning the building into a “totally healthful surroundings.” 

The moment raw and undefined, the Coatresa workplace is now defined by its features — skins, styles and textures — that elegantly work alongside one another to foster efficiency for both of those groups and men and women in a peaceful environment.