factory reconstruction
nikos
year / 2021
photos / tihomir rachev
visualizations/ funkt
The project is located in the city of Dobrich, Bulgaria, that has based its growth around agriculture, light and food industry. The industrial district of the city has inherited a number of monumental pre-cast concrete facilities from the past socialist era, some of which are configured to accommodate contemporary production. One such warehouse happens to be the home of an extraordinary business, especially for this locality, which has been growing and innovating its processes and has been looking for a new environment to represent its identity and comfortably facilitate the dynamic requirements of the present. The company is producing specialized stainless-steel equipment for the dairy and etheric oil industry and trading its manufacture worldwide.
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process
The project was implemented in phases and took almost two years. We started with the redesign of the dining area and the changing rooms for employees, then the design brief spilled over into the creation of outdoor recreation areas, park zones and new pedestrian approaches to the factory.
The last and most important stage was a complete reconstruction of the administrative part – an internal two-story building in the large hall, built in the 1990s. Our client wanted an efficient and functional organization of the premises, more light and the achievement of a completely new vision to match their corporate image.
competition / shortlisted
new spaces for the people / new spaces for the people
facade
The concept has been developed around the re-use of the existing, use of natural local materials and investing in the skills of the factory craftsmen in order to bring civic pride and build an authentic visual and material vocabulary close to the company’s identity.
The internal building skin is comprised of order of patchwork façade panels, supported by metal construction and fully manufactured on site. The façade panels incorporate the existing glazing of the original building, which has been ordered into an intricate braid of solids and voids, making connection to the past, while reducing building waste. Another major feature of the interior is a double skin corridor on the upper floor, which is a main circulation connection and provides thermal and sound insulation for the office cabinets.
lighting
The project also involves high-tech systems for automatization of the lighting, heating and shading utilities, which reduce energy consumption and optimize staff operational time and workability.
The interior furniture has been also materially and technically informed by the factory’s working environment and has been designed in a low tech, simple and practical manner, all metal parts has been made by the factory staff. Inviting the factory ‘s craftsman and technical facilities into the design implementation process ultimately developed high involvement in the social context from both sides: the architect and the participating user.
We believe the company is currently inhabiting an authentic new space, closely knit to their core values and area of service.
