Castellana 77 Building Madrid, AZCA District Office Architecture, Design Photos

Castellana 77 Building Madrid

Commercial Development in AZCA District, financial centre in Spain – design by luis vidal +arquitectos

17 May 2019

Castellana 77 Building in Madrid

Architects: luis vidal +arquitectos

Location: AZCA district, Madrid, Spain

Castellana 77, a sustainable building with a Guardian Glass glazed facade

In the heart of Madrid’s financial centre, in the AZCA district, stands Castellana 77, a building which, after two decades out of service, has begun a new iconic life thanks to luis vidal +arquitectos. The original 1977 tower is now a 62-metre-high office building, defining the skyline of the city in its own special way.

With completion of the restoration, the building is a leader in terms of energy efficiency and environmental profile and has received the prestigious LEED Platinum certification. Guardian Glass high performance glass products for the façade helped contribute to achieving this LEED certification.

Clever use of natural light and the desire to create a strong identity for the building to stand out in its environment were two of the essential pillars for the architectural project. According to Luis Vidal: “The goal was to update the building, resulting in a new property that is both flexible and sustainable, while creating high quality commercial space with a new image incorporated into the skyline of Madrid, a city which respects its roots, but is still forward-looking.”

This has been achieved with an integral restoration, primarily focused on building a new façade with a sharp vertical modulation that utilises Guardian SunGuard® SN 70/41 coated glass in a high selectivity glazed curtain wall.

This modern, inspiring construction system also incorporates an added feature that provides extra solar protection by using fins with a 60cm overhang to provide shade (separated from the main façade by a 15cm gap for maintenance and cleaning). These work in conjunction with Guardian glass to further improve the general performance of the building.

Over a total area of 21,000m², architecture and construction works also included the upgrade of all the facilities in Castellana 77, as well as the transformation of its 18 floors above ground (16,261m² in total), making the ground floor layout more flexible. The ground floor can hold both offices and commercial space. The original four storeys used for parking have been regenerated, as well as an additional floor for general building facilities. The five underground floors now hold over 200 parking spaces.

A living, efficient glass facade

Building the Castellana 77 façades comprised two stages. First, the dismantling of the original building, which was completely out of date and was suffering from a significant amount of wear and tear. Second, the installation of the new envelope. This resulted in the following types of facade based on area and orientation: a curtain wall façade, a curtain wall façade with slat protection, and a ventilated façade.

The curtain wall façade is made from an extruded aluminium profile system and infill panels made from laminated high selectivity neutral coated glass with SunGuard® SN 70/41 as the external pane. This is one of the coated glass options in the Guardian SunGuard^® high performance architectural glass range. With 70% light transmission, this solution provides a neutral appearance with maximum solar control. The façade system enables free ventilation of glazing edges, which prevents unwanted condensation.

The glass specifications used are described below, based on orientation:

South facade “MC-01” glass units:

The south façade includes areas with silk-screen printed glass modules, all with dimensions of 1.52m x 3.30m, except some on the side of the building. Insulating Glass Units (IGUs) consist of:

Outer pane: 4 laminated tempered glass (one of the PVB layers is acoustic), with high selective coating on surface 4 and silk-screen printing, providing a light transmission >50% and a solar factor <30%.
Cavity: 20mm argon gas with U-shaped black intercalary.
Interior pane: 8mm monolithic tempered glass.

West facade “MC-02” and East facade “MC-03” glass units:

The west façade is fitted with 1.52m x 3.30m IGUs comprising of:

Outer pane: 2 laminated glass (one of the PVB layers is acoustic), with high selective coating on surface 4, providing a light transmission >70% and a solar factor <40%.

Cavity: 20mm argon gas with U-shaped black intercalary.
Interior pane: 8mm monolithic tempered glass.

North facade “MC-04” glass units:

The north façade does not require a selective coating but a low-emissivity one. The dimension of the glass units is 1.52m x 3.30m, except the side adjustment ones. IGUs comprise of:

Outer pane: 2 laminated glass (one of the PVB layers is acoustic), low-emissivity coating on surface 4, providing a light transmission >80% and a solar factor <60%.
Cavity: 20mm argon gas with U-shaped black intercalary.

Interior pane: 8mm tempered glass.

At points of the façade where fire-fighter access is required on floors 1 to 16 – located every 25m to conform to CTE DB-SI standards – the exterior laminated glass was replaced with 10mm tempered glass.

South and East facade “MC-05” glass units:

The south and east facades are fitted with 2.28m x 4.00m or 3.20m glass units, comprising of:

Outer pane: 2 laminated glass (one of the PVB layers is acoustic), high selective coating on surface 4 providing a light transmission TL >70% and solar factor <40%.
Cavity: 20mm argon gas with U-shaped black intercalary.

Interior pane: 2 laminated glass.

Every glass unit on every façade is fixed using structural silicone. The overall performances of the glass units are:

Thermal Insulation: U=1.1 W/m²

Solar Factor: depends on the façade.
Light transmission: depends on the façade.
Acoustic reduction: the frame-glazing combination provides the façade with air sound insulation, D2m,nT,Atr, in dBA, between the exterior and the area inside the building envelope, of greater than 38dBA.

The curtain wall extends to the top, thus forming a 55.2 glass balustrade supported by the curtain wall itself.

EFTE fins for improved energy efficiency

Another poignant feature of the architectural work at Castellana 77 are the EFTE (Ethylene Tetra-Fluoro-Ethylene) fins, which were specially designed for this project, with a specific orientation and curvature to allow them to flow through the skin of the building, giving it a unique, distinctive shape.

Regardless of their aesthetic purpose, the primary function of these fins is the continual pursuit of improved energy efficiency and sustainability, as they protect the structure from direct exposure to the sun. This advanced material, EFTE, allows light to pass through, but not heat, making backlighting a possibility. This allowed the architects to create a continuously evolving façade.

During the day, the movement of the sun and shading (which depends on light intensity) generate a brightly changing image on the façade. At night, its identity emerges from inside the fins with different light configurations, achieved using several kilometres of installed LED lights.

Ultimately, the façade of Castellana 77, with SunGuard® SN 70/41 glazed units and EFTE fins, enables low-emissivity and high solar control capacity. A rigorous study of the building’s exposition to the sun and shade on the west, east and south façades at different critical times every day of the year, led to an efficient design that enables significant energy savings, as well as improved comfort and wellbeing for the building’s occupants.

LEED sustainability and certification

Castellana 77 is now a building with a high level of sustainability. For this reason, it received LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) awarded by the US Green Building Council, a group of construction industry leaders promoting and fostering environmentally-sound structures.

LEED is one of the most prestigious worldwide certifications that evaluates the sustainable behaviour of buildings, seeking to promote environmentally-friendly, as well as financially viable, comfortable properties. The category of the certification for Castellana 77 was “Platinum” in the Core & Shell system.

This distinction was awarded to the building, among other factors, on account of its:

energy efficiency: the glazed façade and solar protection fins, as well as energy management and control performance, result in maximum thermal and lighting comfort for occupiers of the building. This helps to reduce energy consumption by up to 33% per year, compared to a conventional building with the same usage and surface area. The air conditioning and lighting systems are 46% and 34% lower respectively.

Its natural lighting and access for views: 95% of workers and occupiers of Castellana 77 receive natural light and have direct views of the outside.
The quality of the interior atmosphere: with an energy efficient air-conditioning system based on 100% exterior air intake.
Its location and wide range of transport options to access the building.

The efficient use of water by adding efficient bathroom facilities so that the building can achieve a 39% reduction in water consumption, compared to other similar buildings.
Its sustainability awareness: since its restoration, the building uses primarily recycled materials of certified local origin.
Its low or zero emissions: the use of 100% of the materials have no (or little) volatile organic emissions.

Guardian Glass is a member of the US Green Building Council and is also involved in the ENERGY STAR programme, aimed at increasing energy efficiency.

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Guardian Glass

Guardian Glass, a major business unit of Guardian Industries, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of float, coated and fabricated glass products. At its 25 float plants around the globe, Guardian Glass produces high performance glass for use in exterior (both commercial and residential) and interior architectural applications, as well as transportation and technical products. Guardian glass can be found in homes, offices, cars and some of the world’s most iconic architectural landmarks. The Guardian Glass Science & Technology Center continuously works to create new glass products and solutions using the most advanced technology to help customers see what’s possible®. Visit guardianglass.com.

Guardian Industries

Guardian Industries, a global company headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, operates facilities throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Guardian companies employ 18,000 people and manufacture high-performance float glass; coated and fabricated glass products for architectural, residential, interior, transportation and technical glass applications; and high-quality chrome-plated and painted plastic components for the automotive and commercial truck industries.

Guardian’s vision is to be a preferred partner to our customers, suppliers, employees and communities based on a foundation of mutual benefit. This drives our relentless focus on improving people’s lives by providing products and services they value more highly than their alternatives and doing so responsibly while consuming fewer resources. Guardian is a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc. Visit guardian.com.

luis vidal + arquitectos

luis vidal + architects is an international architectural practice that provides high quality and innovative design-led solutions to challenging projects. Leading architects of the London Heathrow Terminal 2 project, this practice has offices across Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan, Dominican Republic, the United States and Chile, and an international workforce of over 150 architects co-existing with a strong background and solid experience in a wide range of disciplines including planning, building and industrial design.

Founded in 2004, luis vidal + architects has built up a consistent career path expressed in more than 200 projects and different scales. The practice is internationally renowned for its expertise in the design of aviation and healthcare buildings, having become one of the leading and most innovative practices committed to delivering functional, responsible and professional designs as an answer to the urban and social challenges of today.

Location: Madrid, Spain

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