Desert City Ltd, Spanish pioneer xeriscaping company, entrusted to García-Germán Architecs Studio the design of their Headquaters in Madrid. The building is composed by two volumes connected by walkways, having the main building a 1,575 m2 (37 m x 42 m) exhibition cactus courtyard intended to be covered by a light and permeable roof.
Spanish building Contrator, Isolux-Corsán, outsourced the roof erection to specialist tensile-structure Contractor Lastra&Zorrilla, who contacted us, Arenas&Asociados Bridge Designers, as their Structural Engineers.
Based on the conceptual sketches made by the Architectural team, we provided the architectural, structural design and erection sequence that fitted the most to such conceptual sketches, with a feeling of being open air but sheltered from weather by an almost transparent layer.
The roof consists in a rigid steel frame with four longitudinal steel beams as Primary Structure. The void between beams is filled with ETFE cushions reinforced with Transverse Tensegrity Beams, made-up by cables and steel strut-masts due to the span, 9.5 m, that those ETFE cushions must cover between the longitudinal beams.
Owner: Desert City S.L.
Project: Garcia Germán Arquitectos - Arenas & Asociados
Surface: 1575 m2. ETFE pneumatics panels: 37 x 9.5 m
Contractor: Isolux Corsán – Lastra & Zorrilla
Arenas & Asociados’ Role: Concept design and Construction project
