EDP Leiria de Regino Cruz Arquitectos

Fotógrafo: Fernando Guerra FG + SG

Regino Cruz Arquitectos were requested by Portugal’s largest energy enterprise, EDP, to design an administrative building in the city of Leiria. Amidst an industrial environment, the site was a complex plot of downhill terrain with a small grove.

What we had in hands became more of a challenge as the European crisis hit Portugal severely, resulting in the need to cut down the construction budget to one third. This way, bringing Regino Cruz back to his early experience in Brazil with Roberto Burle Marx, where he first came across environmental sustainability and Metabolism, we acknowledged the opportunity to create a building in respect to the Japanese post-world war II movement which, in the right proportions, we can relate to the post-crisis times we lived after 2008 and the constant residue we currently witness.

It is known that since the 1950’s Kenzo Tange was designing public buildings for the people, funded by the government of Japan, with elements such as belief, hope and trust within his ethos. But we must face it – nowadays most governments are broke. Companies and enterprises repeatedly become the uprising entities that materialize the creation of such buildings. This allows current architectural philosophies to take place, as our centipede celebrates the symbiotic relationship between Nature and Mankind.

The vitality of the site consisted in preserving the woodland and our approach should act as the bridge between the trees (natural energy) and the asphalt (civilization). In cooperation with the concept designers of Urban Nouveau, the idea evolved. We designed a new building and relocated it towards the grove.

By glorifying the past, we created a piece of Portuguese Metabolism and our project states that the future is attainable in a clear, balanced way. People can trust that.

Program Desription

Featuring a rectangular floor plan, the building deliberately resembles the centipede and its design allows both its purposes to work apart.

On the one hand, we have the EDP Leiria. With an administrative function, the main entrance faces East, heading up to a corridor and a hall. The corridor leads us to the open space office, allowing the staff to settle in to both landscapes – East and West of their work environment. Through the door in its South-West corner, a stairway takes us directly outside into the grove for a picnic lunch, a walk or a private phone call. In the hall we can see a tunnel and a spiral staircase. The first consists of a neutral shape leading to a contrastingly bright glassbox room, designed for brainstorming and meetings. Being an independent body, it has a serene vibe and wears the grove’s camouflage as privacy. The spiral staircase takes us to the staff’s lower ground floor. Changing rooms can be found on one side and on the other, there is a resting area with scullery and a staff door leading to the car park through the legs of the arthropod.

On the other hand, we have the EDP Sãvida Clinic. Since the very beginning, it was the client’s wish to have a health facility by their administrative building. Aimed for the staff and their families, it operates independently. The clinic has its own access through a bridge on the North-West side of the construction, allowing it a separate function. Taking advantage of the natural light, the clean cut interior extends from the reception and waiting room through to the doctors’ offices, sustaining a strong connection with the trees, invariably.