EUITI University School- Mines // ACXT

Bilbao, Spain

Project Status: Built

Year: 2011

Text description provided by the architects.

Located on the Technological Campus of the Universityof the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Bilbao, this new building is in-keeping withthe remodelling of the University Campus within the “Campus ofInternational Excellence Program”, nominated bythe Ministry of Education in 2010 incollaboration with the Université de Bordeaux(France). Due to the university’s request and to its strategiclocation within the city, it is intended for this new building, which housesthe Mining, Civil and Industrial Technical Engineering Schools, to become an architectonicreference thanks to its image by introducinga modern, quality design in line with the Institution itrepresents.

For this purpose, apart from a very careful volumetriccomposition which deals with the volume restrictions imposed bythe Development Plan, the logo designed by Eduardo Chillida hasbeen included in the façade design, in the perforated steel and golden doubleskinned one, to be more precise. Being a largesize and scale building in the city, with almost 45,000 built sq.

meters and 10stories high, the new building sets up a dialogue between architecture, itssculptural volume and its plastic one, represented by the UPV/EHU logo, createdby Eduardo Chillida, which was designed with the authorization of hisFoundation. The exterior skin of golden perforated plate integrates theChillida logo and grants unity to the whole building, camouflaging its greatsize.

Furthermore, the building, being detached, seems divided by the blackbreach that separates the two university schools. Throughout thewhole design process, special emphasis was put in resolving the building as functionaland flexible a manner as possible. Hence, two longitudinallyfunctional corridors between supporting walls have been allocatedalong the long façades. One of them, the northeast facing one, shelters theclassrooms and laboratories.

The other, facing southwest and with smaller andmore controlled openings, lodges all the offices. In the centre of the buildingthere is a core of communication nuclei, toilets, building services and a patiofor lighting purposes, with orange coloured polycarbonate. In total, thebuilding has 56 classrooms, 27 seminars, 7 study rooms, 238 offices forteachers, 9 meeting rooms, 45 teaching laboratories and 26 researchlaboratories apart from areas for managements, administration and services(auditoriums, board rooms, library, cafeteria, dining rooms, postgraduateclassrooms, facilities and offices for technicians, etc.) All the buildingservices have been designed taking energy efficiency intoaccount, and they have been engineered so that future maintenance investmentis kept to a minimum.

Plus, bioclimatic criteria havebeen present during their design, as well as in the architectonic one, thusenhancing energy saving. Thus, the use of a rain-water reuse system,sustainable lighting criteria, aero-thermal considerations and the installationof low temperature boilers will allow for CO2 emissions to be reduced by almost900,000 kg per year and a substantial saving in energy costs.