Awarded a 2026 RIBA International Award for Excellence, this project highlights the important role of reclaimed brick in contemporary architecture.
However, an examination of the facade assembly reveals a notable contrast: while the reclaimed brick reflects an effort to reduce embodied carbon, the underlying spec relies on PUR insulation and calcium silicate backing blocks.
In line with the previous post (183), referring to this “new” way of conceiving architecture, we want to share this magnificent example of reusing material with you.
Again, wall structures and materials of mineral origin are imposed.
It's difficult not to be moved by the interior atmosphere created by the prefabricated blocks used in the construction of rice silos. Those spaces were not originally designed to be occupied, but we can now enjoy them thanks to their rehabilitation.
This simple block piece, with its sloping planes and small ventilation openings that also permit light ingress, offers a wealth of lights and shadows, enhanced by the curved shape of the silo itself. The light is soft and uniform.
Most of the façade solutions on this website are non-loadbearing. As they are independent systems, how to fix or support them on the main structure of the building must be defined.
However, the need to fix the façades is not a result of the emergence of these non-loadbearing enclosures. Whenever a façade has been identified as something singular, and so distinguished from the rest of the building, we can find attachment mechanisms.
It is always a pleasure, in a world that tends toward the hyper-technological, to get back to historical constructional solutions, that when carefully considered, coherently combine different local resources: both natural and processed.
This solution is a cavity wall. A double wall where the interior, made with concrete blocks, is part of the main structure of the building; while the exterior, built with Marés stone, needs only to be self-supporting and is stabilized against the inner wall.
A very interesting building.
The continuity of the envelope on the façade and roof is only formal, not constructive. The façade solves water tightness by means of a drained cavity, while the roof does so using an absolutely waterproof material. From the outside, they look the same.