The General Nursing Council of Spain is located in Aravaca neighborhood in Madrid. It has more than 7000m2 built and responds to an extensive administrative and office program.
A design based on processed bamboo
Bamboo takes center stage, among the different materials and finishes that are part of the project, paneling a large part of the floor, wall and ceiling surfaces. It is harmoniously integrating with the polychromy and textures of the rest of the building. EUSA architecture studio use the material with the collaboration and advice of the GUBIA Group´s technical department, thinking of the commitment to sustainability, together with the mechanical and aesthetic properties of bamboo.
The heart of the building is a triple-height space from the first floor below ground level to the roof of the building, where a skylight baths it in light. Bamboo slats in 40x19mm placed separated 40mm on a white board cover walls that delimit this space. This sequence of vertical slats generates a rhythm in the interior space, where the interior slatted composition of bamboo provides a very unique image.
Surface of public areas, access, circulation and presidential floor is covered with solid bamboo flooring glued to the floor, type GUBIA BSP15 C-v in 960x96x15mm.
“We decided to employed bamboo in the areas of intense use because of the warmth, stability, and the hardness of the material”, say architects and property. Caramel color of this floor contrasts with vinyl flooring and the thermo-treated bamboo of other rooms.
The main staircase of the building, which connects the ground floor with the first floor below ground, becomes a sculptural element also made of bamboo solid panels.The edge of the material appears on each step, with a similar language to the slats surrounding the patios.
Custom-made carpentry
Carpentry elements on different floors of the building are very different, designed to be manufactured to measure.
Folding, sliding, armored doors with electronic locks, security locks… are part of the meticulous study of the building program. All of them have been made with a birch plywood core showing its structure in the edges of the door and finished in bamboo veneer.
Advantages of bamboo´s acoustic in the Auditorium
The auditorium of the building has been designed as a box paneled entirely in bamboo. Thanks to the acoustic properties of the material it is a room with excellent acoustic absorption and sound reverberation.
Vertical planes are covered with smooth 2400x600mm boards finished with GUBIA BVCV bamboo veneer. The same panel with 8mm diameter perforations and 32mm separations in both directions is used to shape a stepped ceiling that hides large concrete beams and house the installations.
Custom furniture has been designed in the dais area, replicating the rhythmic language of bamboo slats in the central atrium. It is a singular lectern and some conference tables, whose front CNC carved on bamboo, creates a unique set. The eight tables are linked together with a system of magnets. They fit together as the pieces of a meccano, being able to change position, join or separate, as a changing volume according to needs.