Xabier Barrutieta architects is an Architecture, Urbanism and Design firm specialising in innovative solutions and integrated projects. The firm provides us with a unique insight into the stunning designs they produce.
Read the article on the Winners supplement pages 109-110 of Build Magazine Architecture Awards 2015.
Our work philosophy rests on the premise that
best design comes from a completely integrated approach from the project conception
to completion, and we make ourselves stand out offering tailored solutions that
are not common to traditional architecture firms.
Xabier Barrutieta architects focuses on three
different fields that mainly correspond to three scales of action. Each of
these scales has quite different positions according to clients and services we
offer.
On the bigger scale Urban Design and
Masterplanning projects usually have to find a dialogue with existing urban reality
and need to apply strategic thinking methodologies and complex management tools.
We act as an urban think-tank for clients that are usually public and we offer
them a research methodology with an out-of-the-box approach, proposing
proactive ideas on the situations that we identify to have an outstanding
potential.
On the building scale we mainly focus on NZEB
buildings and green architecture solutions. In the last years we worked with
clients of companies that needed new and fresh working environments for their
innovative companies. We work hand in hand from the beginning to choose the
right plot, study their brand culture and DNA with the aim of designing a
tailored project that sums a new asset for the business strategy and brand culture
of the companies.
Finally, the smallest scale corresponds to the
interiors of any kind, workplace consultancy, industrial design and design of temporary
spaces. We love working with artists and sculptors to give us new insights and
help create spaces with a soul. At this scale we have more freedom to test new
materials, technologies and be open to peripheral disciplines that enrich our
practice.
But at complex projects the limits between
scales usually blur, which does not mean it is bad news. One interesting aspect
of our professional research comes at the scale between the building and the
neighbourhood, which we name as ‘Urban Cells’. This approach embraces the
building and its close urban surrounding, which together open interesting paths
of the design and implementation of integrated sustainable design solutions
that take into account the effective mix of uses, the centralized energy
management, creating dense and healthy urban developments, the use of road
space and parking, optimization of centralized facilities, etc. As you can
imagine, this is an especially interesting field for interdisciplinary projects
that we can lead and drive applying LEAN management for instance.
One particular example of this was Orona Ideo, a
milestone Project in our evolution where we implemented many of the ideas on
Urban Cell design and we applied innovative management tools borrowed from the
industrial processes.
Orona Ideo is a Campus size development of
several buildings that integrate business, research and university for a lift
manufacturing company near San
Sebastian Spain that has
been certified simultaneously both in LEED Gold and BREEAM Excellent, and we
were awarded the First Extraordinary Point for Innovation ever granted by
Breeam Spain
The fact that Orona Ideo was benchmarked in the
Health, Wellbeing & Productivity in Offices report of the World Green
Building Council highlighted many quality aspects of the design perceived by
the occupants beyond the rational efficiency of the building, and that is a
very valuable aspect that strengthens our philosophy. The natural light, the
views, the acoustic comfort, the connection with nature and vegetation, these
are some of the most appreciated aspects, which we made note of and will
endeavour to integrate into our other projects in the future.
When working in a technology driven world we
think we have to be active on the frontlines, ensuring we integrate the right
technology into our projects. There are many new possibilities to do lots of
new things in our cities and buildings: smart components, internet of things,
data management, although we also understand that we have to listen to our
customers and clients, because they tell us which are the problems we need to
solve by means of our best design solutions. By combining these approaches we
ensure that we are working as efficiently as possible whilst simultaneously
meeting the customer’s needs.
The integrated sustainability design approach we
take is much more complex to manage than achieving good energy efficiency, and therefore
we face early in the design the issues regarding health and wellbeing of the
occupants and the building facility management requirements during its
lifetime. This may change the general mind-set in the industry in the future and
currently it opens the debate of need to evaluate not only the measurable quantitative
aspects, but also the quality of our architectural and urban designs.
Looking to the future, we will work on strengthening
our position on integrated projects because we know that it is the way to
ensure that our clients receive the highest added value of every project we
complete, and at the same time we would like to increase the participation on international
projects.
