Red Cross on the Street. A Cardboard Office

Tomás García Píriz Studio·Granada, Spain

2024Commercial Interiors (<25,000 sq ft.)Commercial

Year: 2024
Category: Commercial · Commercial Interiors (<25,000 sq ft.)
Type: Commercial
Status: Built
Firm: Tomás García Píriz Studio
Location: Granada, Spain

A few meters from its current headquarters in Granada, Red Cross decides to expand its facilities on the ground floor of a residential block at the end of the central Paseo del Salón. This decision responds to two needs: the first stems from the internal management itself for the regrouping of all the teams dispersed throughout the city, also expanding the offer of jobs. The second, from a strategic point of view, the new space allowed greater visibility in the daily life of the average citizen. The space was suitable for both purposes.

On the one hand, it offered a generous surface area and height (5 metres) to fit the requested programme: multipurpose classroom for cultural and training activities, group work space, offices and service spaces. On the other hand, its strategic urban position and its triangular geometry, with three facades facing the public road, made it a very exposed place. The proposal implements, in the irregularity of the plot, the requested uses maximizing the surface area of the common work space which runs parallel to the main north-facing façade.

The offices are located on the south side, while the multipurpose room is built taking advantage of the depth of the boundary wall with the adjacent premises. The service uses (toilets and facilities) are attached to the dividing wall with the entrance to the housing block. This arrangement promotes maximum transparency and flexibility of the work space, both inside and outside, so that the divisions are resolved through the furniture: cupboards, lockers and lattices. If the enclosures inside do not reach the ceiling to allow the passage of light, on the outside the opening of the façade takes the possibilities of the original openings to the extreme.

To intensify the inside-outside relationship, a continuous bench runs linearly along the north façade, between the street and the premises, thus “giving up” a public infrastructure for rest, a meeting place between the Red Cross and the city of Granada. Red Cross on the street proposes a new way of understanding the relationship of the organization with society. Cardboard, recycled and recyclable, is introduced as a material capable of symbolizing the Red Cross's determined commitment to sustainable and environmentally conscious action.

A single element, the tube or "mandrel" (in 10 and 20 cm formats) supports the proposal in combination with MDF (another recyclable material) to offer a raw and warm space at the same time. Cardboard acts as a structural material, enclosure, false ceiling, light lattice, acoustic trap or filter for ventilation air (supply and return). The rest of the finishes (projected vermiculite, acoustic board made of wood chips, concrete, etc.) emphasize this decision. Red Cross on the street builds a new model of work space in contact with citizens.

An open, flexible and changing office capable of making visible the day-to-day life of the organization in the 21st century.