icoma headquarters, vitoria, spain

ICOMA is the acronym for Ilustre Colegio de Medicos de Alava, the medical professional association in the region of Alava in Spain, and this projects presents their new headquarters.
The new offices for icoma are implemented on an existing space in a residential building, conecting the street level space with the one on the second floor. The adaptive reuse of the existing space involved the aperture and definition of two small glass courtyards, new light sources for the ground level, that allowed for an open plan in visual continuity while helping to clarify transits and the definition of static versus dinamic areas.
There are two main strategies ruling the project; one from inside-out (opening a former dead space to light), and another from outside in (conceling the work space at street level with a veil for privacy)
Indeed, the refurbished space is not exactly a retail space but it is in relation with the street. A new skin of translucent glass channel and glass pane provides a curated balance between privacy and publicity. A thick but light skin that allows for a peculiar type of permeability where the fragmented vision of the street help users to not loose track of the outside and the pass of time through the day, and the inner light and the casted shadows provoque an abstract activation of the outside street wall.
Materiality plays a big role in the project. In the part to whole relationship that tectonics is, we are interested in the process of arriving to a non standard solution using a standard component, such as the glass channel, in this case. There is a relentless use of one same component through out the space that provides a non standard outer skin configuration for the facade, and an atmospheric redefinition of “the corridor” through its thick but light translucent materiality.
The atmospheric spatial quality is underlined by the implicit mirror efect of the floor and ceiling wooden finishes and the explicit mirroring of the polished stainless steel vertical pannels.
Reflection and disappearance.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

⋅ Walls
Façades
- Façade enclosure formed by two panes leaving an intermediate innertube for thermal control of the premises.
- Outer pane made by extra-clear glass vertical slats u-glass cord 26/60/7, from Lamberts, placed in a innertube, on anodised aluminum substructure in its color with Interposition between the extraclear tempered glass pieces of 17 cm width and 10 mm thick according to orientation.
Interior sheet of the chamber formed by low-emissivity climalit glass.
- Aluminum tilt-and-turn windows with hidden leaf, unicity model by technal.
Wood panels, painted boards, stainless steel mirror finish,
- Wall cladding with rigid MD 19 mm plates with 1 mm stainless steel exterior mirror finish. Despieces of panels of 3.15 x 1.20 meters approximately.
- Extra-clear cast glass partitions. U-glass cord 26/60/7 de Lamberts, making an innertube.
- Phenolic compact panel coatings.
- 10 mm white lacquered MDF paneling
- Paneled wood veneered in oak for shelves formation in offices.
- Cinca gray porcelain stoneware green 0120. 20x20x0,75

⋅ Floor
- Multilayer wood flooring finished with 6 mm oak 18 cm wide and variable length, adhered to 18 cm wide and variable length cement screed.
- Flooring in porcelain stoneware in wet rooms20x20x0.75 cm. Cinca gray green 0120 model
- Black concrete paver 10x10x7 cm
- Vinyl curl doormat

⋅ Ceiling
- Wood permeable system:
False removable roof made of solid wood slats of 15x 70 mm, placed parallel with a 30 mm spacing between slats. United by wooden rod of 13 mm of diameter painted in black means, suspended from the slab by hidden profiling of galvanized steel means. Spigoline - Grid 3000x360 mm system.
- Aluminum slats
False ceiling of lacquered aluminum slats "u" shaped separated from each other 20 mm, clipping to galvanized steel substructure. Luxalon 30bd model by Hunter Douglas.
- Gypsum board
False laminated plaster ceiling of 13 mm thickness placed on hidden substructure of galvanized Steel

⋅ Lighting fixtures
- Encapsulite Luminary, hanging
- Lamp fine leds Luminary. Led strips 1m long on 16mm aluminum profiles and opal diffuser.
- Lamp fill Luminary. Suspended / recessed lamp of 1.98 m in length and opal diffuser.Delta light
- Luminary. Deep Ringo HI IP S2.
- Hanging luminary Otylight Pop 12D13

⋅ Staircase
Staircase formed by rungs and 2 cm thick steel plate landing, suspended from the slab by means of 1 cm diameter steel bars. Handrail formed by smooth steel round 1.5 cm in diameter.

⋅ Elevator
OTIS Easylife panoramic lift, load 385kg., 3 people, cabin dimensions 1100 x1400 mm., 2 stops 4.5m.