☉ Institute of Marine Research and the Marine Technology Unit is a thrid prize competition entry by Comas Pont arquitectes for CSIC in 2022. It is located in Vigo Spain in a seaside and urban setting. Its scale is large with a surface of 37.281 sqm a budget of 10.674.200 € and a ratio of 286 €/sqm. Key materials are concrete, glass and metal. Graph collaborated as visualizer. Review the 2 proposals for the same competition.
The project responds to the programmatic and budgetary need for the construction in different phases of a scientific complex. Some of the existing buildings are preserved and rehabilitated and new ones are proposed. The new buildings have a modular floor plan and sloping roofs (which are reminiscent of the profile of industrial constructions in the surroundings) and with glazed and mobile facades to the north (inspired by the typical Galician galleries), allowing climate control and enhancing views of the Ria to the north. (Ria is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea).
A flexible modular scheme is proposed and it allows the research groups to grow and decrease. Prefabricated mixed concrete and steel structure is envisaged, as a construction system (modular) with a lot of thermal inertia and long useful life. The project aims to provide the set of qualified public spaces. It is proposed:
– A semi-covered square as a meeting place for the neighbourhood and for more public use. It connects with the current Kelvin building and presents a new double-height porch that is related to the pier and Ría (achieving a space protected from rain and wind).
– A central square relating the IMM buildings, achieving new spaces for meeting, rest and relationships between users.
The project meets the EU sustainability criteria, achieving an NZEB-0 almost zero-energy building. Passive solutions are proposed to help reduce the building’s energy consumption, between them there are:
– Use of natural light: Central patios of 6×6 meters which provide natural light to the interior and reduce electricity consumption by 50%. The patios are a characteristic element of the local architecture and they allow regulating the interior temperature of the spaces with vegetation and ventilation.
– Passive thermal regulation of chimneys: The contribution of heat that can suppose the south façade of the chimneys of the patios is used. With the winter sun, the interior air of the patio is overheated and we introduce it inside the building as renewed air, passively pre-treated. In summer, the double north-south façade is opened to facilitate cross ventilation while the chimneys enhance this air movement, activating ventilation.