Government Headquarters Merida
Regional Government Headquarters in Merida
The contract for this project was awarded through an international competition where emphasis was to design an energy saving building. Given the hot summer climate of the Extremadura region, the main concern is for cooling, and to avoid solar radiation.
The concept for the project consists of a series of parallel walls that mirror the existing aqueduct and align with north-south orientation of the site. The walls are developed as double walls with 3.6 meters thickness to accommodate all of the service elements of the program leaving 18m free-span floor plates between them for a clear distribution of office space.
The most important energy saving concept is the earth to air heat-exchanger placed 2 meters below the basement slab. At foundation level, the double wall system forms a series of galleries that serve as air-intake ducts for the entire air supply. Air is naturally pre-cooled below grade before being treated by HVAC units at office levels.