Work begins on the Agricultural Innovation Complex designed by Estudio Lamela for Unica Group in the Parque Tecnológico de Almería
Unica Group, a production, sale, and export company of horticultural products, comprised of 16 cooperatives, has laid the first stone of what will be the Unica Agribusiness Center (UAC), a center that aims to radically change the agricultural sector and where they conduct experiments in innovation and development.
The Unica Agribusiness Centre, which will be in the Parque Tecnológico de Almería (PITA), next to the Autovía del Mediterráneo, will be a six-hectare campus where they’ll conduct research in the field of genetics (to create varieties that are better and more resistant) and the application of new technologies such as Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. It will offer advanced services for agricultural marketing and production.
In the design of the project, Estudio Lamela has considered the following:
- Functionality
- Efficiency and economy
- Flexibility and ability to adapt to future changes
- Sustainability and environment and climate integration
- Spatial transparency, quality of materials and systems
- Adaptation of spaces to the activities to be performed, with attention to the comfort and needs of the users
- Intelligent use of new technologies, but also taking advantage of traditional architectural solutions
Estudio Lamela has reinterpreted the traditional architecture of Almería caves, as well as other indigenous types of architecture with buried and semi-buried buildings to optimize the topography and thermic inertia that the terrain presents, in favor of bioclimatic and low-maintenance architecture, protected from heat, wind, and excessive sunlight, but simultaneously making the most of natural light and ventilation while providing a modern and emblematic design.
Likewise, the project undertakes a landscape intervention to improve aesthetics and sustainability through measures such as the recovery of native species to reduce water consumption in irrigation.
This project is very special for Carlos Lamela: “We have put a lot of enthusiasm into this innovative complex, and we hope that it will become a world reference within the agro-food sector.”
