Hortensia Herrero Foundation Offices – Valencia
ERRE arquitectura designed the Hortensia Herrero Foundation offices with a thoughtful layout in Valencia, Spain.
The project rehabilitates two historic premises in the center of Valencia to house the offices of the Foundation Hortensia Herrero located next to the future Hortensia Herrero Art Center, a new museum that is currently under construction and that aims to become a point of reference for contemporary art in the city.
These new offices, located in a building annexed to the future museum, have an area of about 500 square meters divided into two floors. The upper floor has work spaces, meeting areas and a concentration room. The lower floor is organized with an unique open work space as well as storage, maintenance and management rooms.
One of the challenges of the project has been to resolve the new needs that these offices required while at the same time rehabilitating a historic building that was very deteriorated and that contained several elements of heritage value that had to be preserved.
In this sense, the original wooden carpentry has been restored. Moreover, Nolla pavements, which appear at different points in the space, have been maintained highlighting this characteristic element of Valencia’s architectural heritage.
In addition, a significant effort has been made to preserve and highlight important decorative pictorial elements such as the ornamental painting that reproduces the myth of Gaia in the main meeting room which, despite the various renovations it has suffer through time, has been kept in a good state of conservation.
Technology has also been important to be able to respond to the activity that is going to take place both in the work spaces and in the different meeting rooms.
Climate control, building automation, lighting, audiovisuals… are some of the facilities that have been necessary to integrate within the project to give a new life to the premises, but without stealing prominence from the existing spaces or decorative elements.
In terms of materiality, the project highlight the use of oak wood present in the original exterior carpentry and which has been used in the interior spaces, storage places and shelves.
The process of transforming and refurbishing these office spaces has been carried out with the intention of creating comfortable work areas for users, with a strong presence of natural light and with multiple work environments that provide the necessary flexibility to the day to day of the future Hortensia Herrero Art Center.
Design: ERRE arquitectura
Photography: Adriá Goula
