Phytochemistry Laboratories

Located in the interior region to the north of Barcelona, the phytochemistry laboratory was built on a hilly site in the middle of an industrial zone bordering an expressway that leads to the town of Granollers. The building comprises three volumes whose angles link them together.

This unconventional project is suffused with the experiment in modular combinations and also promotes traditional construction techniques and Catalan materials. Brick and ceramic are joined together in the façades and form subtle rectangular mouldings. Ceramic friezes of varying thickness establish a rhythm across the broad brick façades. The laboratory walls expose the deep and intense colour of the earth.

Ample windows and their fine woodwork contrast with the opulence of the walls. And ingeniously stacked bricks form arches that support a series of cantilevers.

Because the site was to house scientific research and experimentation, its operations required that light enter in a moderate fashion. An important concern was thus to supply the laboratory with indirect solar lighting. Several architectural methods were developed to circumvent this complication, which eventually helped create the project’s characteristic shapes. Openings located up high or in the recesses of the façades were used to orient and soften incoming light.

Three geometric volumes were thus combined to form a building whose silhouette forms a unique exercise in exteriors that are semi-enveloped by the turns of the façade. The laboratory was developed over two floors. And the central rectangular building uniformly opens onto the courtyard through a folding back of the façade which creates external alcoves and permits greater intimacy and less sunshine inside the building. Facing the street, the upper level has windows along its whole length. The two end buildings have the same outline when seen from above. The first building, through which visitors enter, has a square base and a more direct link with the street. Cubic protrusions emerge from its façades and are evenly distributed along its perimeter, thus expanding the interior spaces by creating more intimate areas. Several openings towards the top of the main building and between the protruding volumes allow for a gentle supply of light. The second building has a more complex floor plan and narrows out to become a square on top. It’s pierced by four large, vertical openings on each side, running unbroken from top to bottom.