Norman Foster brings another sustainable landmark to Madrid

See the incredible plans of iconic architect Norman Foster to turn a 115-year-old warehouse into an ultra-sustainable office complex in Madrid

The epitome of the international modern architect, Norman Foster is famous worldwide. The British designer has always had a soft spot for the Iberian peninsula however and, in 2017, he even built a foundation that carries his name in the Spanish capital. The center has served as a hub for design, debate, and innovation ever since.

The foundation isn’t the only thing keeping him busy in the city: Foster+Partners is already hard at work on the development of the old Barclays Bank building in Plaza de Colón, the famous Cepsa Tower, and even the reforms to the 1912 palace in Chamberi that houses the Norman Foster Foundation itself.

Now, it has been announced that he is to build yet another sustainable development to add to the Spanish capital’s growing collection of the firm’s designs.

He has been commissioned to build Acciona Ombú, the new office complex for the Acciona group on the site of a 115 year old industrial warehouse.

The cavernous building will be fitted with a new wooden structure, built from materials from nearby factories and wood from local forests. This will provide the support for staggered floors lit by the sun through a mammoth skylight in the roof.

Not only will this feature save money on lighting, the glass will contribute even further to the building’s environmentally friendly credentials through internal silicon plates that will generate electricity.

300 trees and 10,000 meters squared of park will ensure the site isn’t simply green on paper. The space will be designed to allow the staff to work and host informal meetings on the sprawling grounds.

Foster’s fingerprints can also be found all over Spain and the world already. In Barcelona, the firm had its hand in the design and creation of landmarks such as FC Barcelona’s stadium, the biggest football stadium in Europe, and the Collserola Tower that sits high on the hills of Mt. Tibidabo and can be seen throughout city.

Beyond the country’s borders, the company’s handiwork adorns the skylines of the world’s most important cities, no picture of London’s cityscape is complete without a shot of 30 St Mary Ave AKA the Gherkin and the refurbished Reichstag museum, iced with glass as a symbol of the transparency of the politics within, are just two of the more famous examples.

Perhaps Foster’s most ambitious project in develop is Crystal Island, which will not only be the biggest building in Moscow on completion, but the biggest in the world.

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