Interview to Xabier Barrutieta by New House magazine - JTart publishing (China)

Interviewer: New House (The flagship magazine of JTart Publishing & Media Group)

  

1.

New House: What's the design idea of Orona Ideo’s building form? In term of eco and energy saving, what are its (the form's) advantages or disadvantages?

Xabier Barrutieta: The Zero building is the flagship building of the Orona Ideo – innovation city, a campus developed by the Orona lift manufacturing company composed by various buildings that merge business, research and university. The Zero building houses the corporate headquarters of the company and its form is inspired by the circle, a constant shape in the company’s brand image. The design of the building seeks to evoque elegance, dynamism and elevation through an abstract formal gesture: a hollow cylinder of 90m in diameter, 16m in height and a 15º incline. It dynamically rises from the ground to create a 1,500m2 overhang at the entrance from the city and sinks on the opposite side, allowing passage through and generating a roof-façade for capturing solar energy. This inclination, combined with a good south facing orientation of the building plan, provides the roof a very interesting situation for solar energy collection by means of integrated flat polycrystalline solar panels, and also presents a friendly and eye-catching façade towards the square.

The circular form of the building plan also helps minimize the façade area and enhance the building compactness, as the circle is the shape that embraces the maximum area with the minimum envelope. The inner courtyard produces a hollow space within the building and generates a circular south facing façade where the distribution corridor is located. This area acts as a greenhouse gallery that warms up and permits the passive heating of the building’s most lively area and the higher floors.

The building form has also a part that is sunk in the terrain. Here are located the spaces that need more stable climatic conditions and need no natural light, as the computer rooms, the showroom and the auditorium among others.

Orona IDeO @ e-architect

5 Feb 2013

Orona IDeO - innovation city

Basque Country, near Bilbao, north east Spain


photo © Xabier Barrutieta

ABSTRACT

Orona IDeO – innovation city is the flagship design of the new extension of San Sebastian’s Technology Park that frames in a public-private collaboration between Orona (company that focuses its activity on lifts, escalators and moving walkways) and the Technology Park.

The purpose of this project is to house Orona’s Innovation Ecosystem, which stands out as it brings together different synergetic activities –business, technology centres and university- and it will be a laboratory where leading-edge technologies in sustainability and energy management in buildings will be applied.

The Orona Zero building will house Orona corporate headquarters and Orona eic (Elevator innovation Centre). The Orona Foundation is a hybrid building that houses the university. The A3 research building has laboratories devoted to research on advanced electricity storage systems. Orona Gallery will be used as a pavilion for visitors and real-time energy monitoring. The buildings will be interconnected by a central plaza enhancing the project’s urban nature.


photo © Xabier Barrutieta

1. WHAT IS ORONA IDeO

A project for innovation

Architects stated that a Project for Innovation had to be Innovative in itself, which includes a range of aspects where the project incorporates cutting edge solutions that will help evolve a new common corporate culture for Orona IDeO - innovation city, i.e.:

-Urban design: integrative, environmentaly friendly and open for citizens.
-Architecture: mixed-use, innovative, and high identity design.
-Mobilitiy and accessibility showroom of Orona´s cutting edge technology.
-Sustainability: to be certified simultaneously both in Leed Gold and Breeam excellent.
-Energy Lab: onsite 100% green thermal energy production and integrated PV design managed by an ESCO.
- Orona Foundation´s activities will strengthen the local knowledge network.

Knowledge network

Donostia-San Sebastian and its metropolitan area are highly dynamic attracting innovative activities, talent and different types of knowledge networks. The fact that the city is European Capital of Culture in 2016 and that it was declared a City of Science and Innovation further strengthens this joint commitment as the city’s strategy.

   
images © Xabier Barrutieta

2. MASTERPLAN

Infrastructure and sustainable mobility

The Project is well served by road infrastructure, in terms of motorways and capillary networks, and will be visible from San Sebastian´s new ring road. 5 minutes away are the suburban train stations as well as the future High Speed railway station.

In consequence, a study was drawn up on the mobility generated in order to see the real possibilities of collective transport networks (trains, buses, bicycles, pedestrian networks), as well as the impact of implementing policies for fostering sustainable mobility aimed at employees, researchers and students.

City

Orona IDeO is the flagship project of the extension of San Sebastian’s Technology Park in Hernani. The technology parks of the 21st century seek to integrate uses in the urban framework and aim at use intensity, good accessibility and associated services. In this respect, the project updates the concept of the city as something that agglutinates and acts as a meeting point for activities in its streets, squares and public spaces and in the care of its landscape.

EcoBoulevard

The EcoBoulevard is the linear park shaping the backbone of the Technology Park’s new extension. This space is an image and reference point for the whole of the Park, and is characterised by its rich vegetation and careful landscaping in the recreation areas where pedestrians will have preference over cars. The EcoBoulevard ends in a sculpture-like observation point offering a view of the landscape, and connects with the city.

The inside of Orona IDeO – innovation city is structured around a pedestrian axis which will join the area around the existing roundabout with the EcoBoulevard. The flow of people will pass through the main building which will serve as the entrance to the plaza.

   
images © Xabier Barrutieta

3. THE PROJECT’S COMPONENTS

Orona IDeO-innovation city is made up of different buildings:

Orona Zero

This building will house Orona´s corporate headquarters and Orona eic (Elevator innovation Centre) and is inspired by the circle, a constant in Orona’s brand image. Its image wants to transmit elegance, strength and elevation through an abstract formal gesture: a hollow cylinder, 90m in diameter, on a 15º incline. It rises from the ground to create a great overhang at the entrance to the Technology Park and is buried on the opposite side, allowing passage through to the other side and generating a roof-façade for capturing energy.

Orona Foundation Building

It is a “collage” building whose layout is dictated by the planning conditions. The two lower storeys are for common and shared facilities such as the canteen, auditorium, library and crèche, and its purpose is to serve as a meeting point and an area for informal meetings for Orona IDeO. The two upper storeys are for use as teaching facilities at graduate and post-graduate level, in energy-related subjects, and they will house the university. Its façade onto the plaza acts as a backdrop for the public space and aims at being permeable and polyvalent.

A3 Building

The two smaller volumes make up one building holding office space and laboratories aimed at research on advanced electricity storage systems The purpose of this research is to develop technology for its application to elevation systems and in energy management in buildings.

The laboratory building has a U-glass façade whereas the building housing the offices of the researchers has a more light-hearted, brightly-coloured façade.

Orona Gallery

Orona IDeO is to be the Energy Laboratory combining the different systems for clean energy generation making up architecture using storage systems and efficient consumption in buildings. The Orona Gallery will be a museum and pavilion for visitors and its purpose will be to teach and transmit its experience. It will contain a Showroom for demonstrating the monitoring of the management of energy in buildings in real time and will be the access point for the facilities for producing energy from renewable sources: biomass, solar thermal, geothermal and photovoltaic.

IDeO Plaza

The Plaza will describe an urban hall with a series of pedestrian areas welcoming researchers, workers and students. The design of this urban space seeks to afford all of Orona IDeO’s building a recognizable character with a striped design reflecting the idea of the strata and rich landscape of its setting.

   
images © Xabier Barrutieta

4. BIOCLIMATIC ARCHITECTURE

To achieve efficient energy performance in the buildings, the bioclimatic design must be present from the initial architectural design. The objective is to fully profit from the passive measures applied and to choose the most suitable energy generation and consumption systems for this specific project.

The Orona Zero building stands out for its singular design and its rich architectural composition. What’s more, it is particularly sensitive to bioclimatic design. It is mainly devoted to office space that has large internal loads due to its occupants and to the density of the electronic equipment which dissipates heat and, at the same time, requires diffused light to avoid glare. The ground plan places the workplace near the outer façade which is mainly north facing, whereas the south-facing ring-shaped gallery distributes the flow of people and overlooks the building’s central void. This is a space of a more social nature where sun capture is welcome and does not interfere with the work space. The service ring with stairs, lifts, toilets, utility shafts, etc. acts as a buffer between the two areas and structures the depth of the bay, creating different spatial situations due to the building’s inclined geometry.

Apart from having low thermal transmittance (U), the walls of the buildings are designed to adapt to different circumstances. The cylinder façade is made up of a curtain wall with a skin composed of triangular pixels which change from: opaque, translucent and transparent, depending on their position and the different circumstances regarding exposition to solar radiation, access to views, the relation with the use of internal space, etc.

With the aid of the superposition of these variations on the façade development, and taking into account the overall transmittance and a reference threshold for heat loss, the solutions for the outer and inner façades are designed, each with a different ratio of openings and opaque areas.

 
images © Xabier Barrutieta

5. ENERGY PRODUCTION
In the case of the Orona Zero Building as well as the rest of Orona IDeO, the energy system is based on the premise of making the most of the district heating cooling system of the whole. This system is powered on 100% renewable energy sources: biomass, thermal solar and geothermal. The water that is heated or cooled using the district heating cooling system is distributed to the substations located in each of the buildings, and, at these points, the flow of energy is adapted to the different conditioning systems.

Heating:
- Biomass boilers: 2 x 600 kW
- Geothermal heat pumps: 2 x 100 kW
- Solar thermal installation: 80 kW

Cooling:
- Geothermal heat pumps: 2 x 75 kW
- Absorption cooling machine: 1 x 176 kW
Polycrystalline photovoltaic modules are integrated in the roof of the Orona Zero building and have a power production of 230 kWp.

Heating and cooling are carried out using underfloor heating and cooling. Its distribution was designed in line with the climate-adjusted areas programmed for the building, so that the system allows for the distribution of heat and cold at the same time. To this end, work areas were designed as units for 20 to 30 workers who can work independently by adjusting climatised areas, their lighting, etc.

In short, energy production from renewable sources is highly competitive when properly calculated to meet the expected consumption over a large number of hours a year, with the result that the installation is highly cost-effective. Within the design’s global energy scheme more conventional systems occasionally cover energy consumption peaks, thus ensuring that the best is made of each installation.

6. STATE OF IMPLEMENTATION

Building construction started in mid 2011 and is under way at this moment. Underground parking and structural systems of all buildings were completed and works currently focus on partitions and facades.

The Orona Foundation building will be completed by 9/2013 and the rest by the 1st quarter of 2014.

Orona IDeO Innovation City - Building Information

Design team:
The project is signed off by the architects: Xabier Barrutieta (Orona), Eneko Goikoetxea (Orona), Javier de la Fuente (LKS), Santiago Pérez (LKS)
Management team:
Orona, LKS ingeniería, Cenit Solar, Cener, MC2 ingeniería and Garrigues have all been involved in drawing-up, construction and managing of the project.
Latitude: 43.275987
Longitude: -1.986938

Total built surface area above ground: 23,000 m2
Corporate use: 4,000 m2
Orona Elevator Innovation Centre: 4,800 m2
Technology centre and laboratories: 3,000 m2
Shared use: 6,000 m2
Teaching use: 5,200 m2
Total built surface area below ground: 27,000 m2
Orona IDeO budget: 50M€

Source: http://www.e-architect.co.uk/bilbao/orona_ideo_san_sebastian.htm

Orona IDeO - innovation city – Project Case Study Sheet

Orona IDeO – innovation city is a project under construction which aims to develop an
Innovation Ecosystem for ORONA, which stands out as a space combining different
synergistic activities – company, technology centre and university – with a laboratory
where leading edge technologies for sustainability  and building energy management are
applied.

Orona IDeO – innovation city is comprised of four buildings, each with its own character,
which, from conceptual design, have taken passive energy usage measures into account
by applying climatic design, and which have opted for simultaneous LEED Gold and BREEAM
Excellent certification. Thermal energy will be generated locally for all buildings via the
Orona IDeO District Heating-Cooling facility, whilst a large photovoltaic cover-façade will
be integrated into the Orona Zero building in order to produce energy for onsite
consumption, and provide a means of researching elevation system related new electricity
storage systems.

The project will also contain a showroom displaying real time building energy management
monitoring, and host visits to renewable energy production installations. In short, Orona
IDeO-innovation city will be a Net Zero Energy Campus innovator.

Total built surface area above ground: 23,000 m2
Corporate use: 4,000 m2
Orona Elevator Innovation Centre: 4,800 m2
Technology centre and laboratories: 3,000 m2
Shared use: 6,000 m2
Teaching use: 5,200 m2
Total built surface area below ground: 27,000 m2
Orona IDeO budget: 50M€

Team:
Orona, LKS ingeniería, Cenit Solar, Cener, MC2 ingeniería and Garrigues have all been
involved in drawing-up and managing the project. The project is signed off by the
architects Xabier Barrutieta (Orona), Eneko Goikoetxea (Orona), Javier de la Fuente (LKS)
and Santiago Pérez (LKS).

Source: Orona > Orona IDeO project data sheet

Orona Zero - a high identity building design

The design for Orona Zero arises from different conditions imformed by the actual plot, the topography and the orientation. Its design is based on a circular shape, which has always accompanied the Orona brand image. This form dialogues with the near roundabout creating a fluent and dynamic façade that denies frontal elevations and permits slippery tangents vision towards the inner spaces behind.

image © Xabier Barrutieta

The idea of ascent (positive and dynamic), is transferred to the final design via an even more sophisticated idea than elevation (height) per se. A megaform of cylindrical shape  (90 m diameter and 16 m high)  that is anchored in the terrain creates a large entrance projection for the building and the whole complex. The existing topography embraces the lower part of the cylinder and defines the level of an upper plaza that interconnects with the rest of the neighbouring buildings.

image & design © Xabier Barrutieta

This megaform is inclined 15º horizontally to create a covered theshold of 1,500 m2 through an impressive overhanging structure that underlines this gate effect. This inclination provides the roofing with a good orientation for solar energy collection, and presents a friendly façade towards the upper square.

Source: www.orona-ideo.com