Blida Center Tower

2-8 FLOOR HOUSING Private space Twisted GROUND FLOOR COMMERCE, PARKING, BICYCLE LANESMixed-use Public space Lifestyle

Surface parking for public use

1rst FLOOR COMMON & SPORT AREAS Semi-private space

Tower building with 42 housing units of 37 and 30 sq. mts.

BASEMENT FLOOR SUBWAY PARKING TOWERS Private space

Subway parking for private use

Interior common spaces equipped with laundry areas, storage and multipurpose spaces. The outdoor areas include sports and student meeting areas.

GROUND FLOOR COMMERCE, PARKING, BICYCLE LANES Public space

Surface parking for public use

Tower building with 42 housing units d 30 sq. mts.

BASEMENT FLOOR SUBWAY PARKING TOWERS Private space

Subway parking for private use

Interior common spaces equipped with laundry areas, storage and multipurpose spaces. The outdoor areas include sports and student meeting areas. Concierge lodge on the first floor with access to each tower with the vertical core and bike parking. It overlooks to the inner courtyard of each complex.

Commercial premises on the first floor to serve the inhabitants of the university housing and all campus users.

Natural ventilation courtyards that descend to the basement.

Researching and innovating with materials and building techniques related to parametric design is one of ON-A’s main goals. Regardless of the project’s scale and its complex geometries, ON-A is committed to standardization, precision and, therefore, efficiency in the construction process.

Technology Materials & Techniques

RICARDO Which project marked your beginning with technological research and material innovation? How do you connect that with design innovation?

JORDI The 5 Sentidos Lounge Bar didn’t incorporate huge technological advances, but it did involve constructive and spatial innovation. Laser cutting was being used in architecture at the time, but just for railings, gates and enclosures. For a process like what we did in our design, with all the different pieces, it was quite unusual. In fact, the company that helped us normally does laser cutting for industrial parts. So, we hired a manufacturer outside the construction sector to handle those pieces.

EDUARDO The software we used was Rhino, but at the time its architectural applications were largely undeveloped. It was mainly used in jewelry and industrial design. Applying it to architecture was also an innovation.

5 Sentidos Lounge Bar, Girona. ––See page 64––

RICARDO It’s important for ON-A to design buildings using a limited number of materials and with clear innovation in their implementation. Was that also how you developed the design for Cricursa for Construmat? What was the potential of using curved glass?

JORDI For Cricursa, we took a different approach. It was a pavilion that could be dismantled, the type of structure that can be accumulated, assembled and disassembled. So, we used straight bars, with an “L” profile, and the nodes that connected them. That’s how we generated the structure to support the curved glass, which also held the entire pavilion together. The material innovation was by Cricursa: spherical glass, curved glass, folded glass, large-format glass, etched glass. Our goal was for the stand to reflect all the company’s technical possibilities. There was a study done on the possibilities, and we tried to push them to the limit. In the end, the sensation was like being inside a giant glass geode. We also wanted to create a poetic metaphor for silica, as the natural origin of glass.

RICARDO In which other projects have you pushed other materials to the limit or experimented with their form and their installation?

JORDI We’ve always kept material and technical innovation in mind.

The Drassanes Metro Station was also a benchmark, since the walls, the ceiling and the pavements were all pushed to the limit to generate a continuous envelope. We try to simplify solutions using just a few materials. That’s something we always keep in mind at ON-A, although later it may generate complexity in terms of geometry