SCANIA Industrial Complex
 On the right bank of the mouth of the Rio Tinto, on a plain adjacent to the Nicoba marshes, extends the largest industrial estate in the province of Huelva. At the gates of it, on a bordering plot between the urbanized and the emptiness, the Swedish truck manufacturer Scania decided to place its new facilities in the region.
Photography by © Roland Halbe
The main qualities of this location were the vast infrastructure that surrounds it, offering the opportunity of creating a complete visual exhibition, where architecture becomes an advertising element as well as a functional container.
The requested program was simple, but with opposite demands. On the one hand, a large diaphanous, horizontal and zenithal illuminated space for the set-up of trucks. On the other, an exhibition and commercial area at several levels with natural light for administrative space. Photography by © Roland Halbe
The requirement to create a building of imposing character in its surroundings led us to encompass the different parts of the program in a single volume, with a single material, trusting that this decision helps to fill the gaps that a relatively small program creates.
In this way, the steep slope of the plot was used to help meet this interest, creating a large esplanade in front of the access area, delaying the position of the retaining wall and also superimposing the program vertically on the head of the building; all to increase the volume by increasing the...