A vacant natural-gas plant in Madrid, Spain is set to be overhauled by Foster + Partners to create the plant-filled and timber-lined Acciona Ombú offices.
The abandoned industrial building, constructed in 1905 by Spanish architect Luis de Landecho, will be retrofitted with 10,000 square-metres of workspace for the sustainable infrastructure company Acciona.
Top image: the existing building shell will be preserved. Above: Acciona Ombú will occupy a vacant gas plant
Foster + Partners' overhaul, set to complete in 2022, focuses largely on the restoration of the building's brick envelope ? which will preserve over 10,000 tonnes of material.
Inside, it will introduce a series of staggered floors made from locally-sourced timber, which will give rise to a series of terraces. According to the studio, this is intended as "a sustainable exemplar for building reuse" while reflecting the ethos of its new owner.
It will be filled with timber-framed workspaces
"This project offers the rare opportunity to give this magnificent building a new lease of life," said Nigel Dancey, head of studio at Foster + Partners.
"It is a great example of the Luis de Landecho's early twentieth-century work, and our design aims to retain its original spirit while creating a workplace that is flexible and adaptable to new and emerging ways of working," he explained.
"Together with Acciona, we have developed a design that is underpinned by our shared vision of sustainabi...