ESTUDIO LAMELA
HEADQUARTERS

The Leitner Building was destined to be a unique building from its conception, as it was designed to hold the new headquarters of Estudio Lamela. The intention was to create a pure volume with a strong impact, and at the same time to exemplify sustainable architecture. The resulting structure includes elements that appear to be added or subtracted, to allow for hollow spaces and terraces at all levels.

The building plan adapts to the trapezoidal shape of the allotment and abides by the established structure. With a radical inclination towards the best possible interior configuration, the columns were planned by drawing a 7×7.5 m structural mesh, generating a 15-meter span of light and a high-quality floor distribution plan.

Over the garden, the building is erected, a vessel devoted to production and contemplation where transparency and opacity intermingle through multiple module strips of glass- and metal sheets. The entire façade is an aluminium curtain wall coated with low-emission glazing, and a maintenance walkway in exposed concrete that decomposes into a diaphragm, a second skin that plays with the first and enclosed the prism in changing shadows and turns the passing time into a spectacle. The West façade dons a double-skinned metallic mesh to equip it with the greatest solar protection.

The project strives to maximize space, user flexibility, and flow rationality: Two elevators are placed by the rear façade, freeing up space and maximizing natural light. This floor plan optimizes the buildable area and frees the rest of the plot for landscaped areas.

The exterior accentuates the contrast between the building’s pure volume and the landscaped area below that draws in visitors and users. Everything on the ground floor is a metamorphosis: the structure transforms, the pillars turn into illuminated walls, the garden melds into both interior and exterior, and unexpected cuts and small level changes underline and contain these mutations.