Xavier Martí: “Sustainability is essentially a cultural issue that has a lot to do with our capacity to adapt”
In recent years, sustainable architecture has become one of the most popular trends worldwide. The need to reduce the impact that buildings have on their surrounding environment, in order to preserve environmental quality, has driven these practices focused on achieving maximum efficiency in materials, structures, and construction, building, and urban planning processes.
Today we talk about architecture and sustainability with Xavier Martí, founding partner architect of OAB - Office of Architecture in Barcelona-, one of the most prestigious architectural firms internationally, which has collaborated with Núñez i Navarro on projects such as the construction of the Seventy Barcelona hotel or the rehabilitation of the building in the NN Passeig de Gràcia, 125 promotion and the Aragó, 182 office building.
Far from being an esoteric concept, for Xavier Martí sustainability “is a topic that I believe is mainly associated with the idea that buildings should be environmentally friendly, reducing gas emissions, building with recyclable elements, rationalizing hybrid resources, etc. However, there are other factors that would be worth considering, such as the lifespan of buildings and their ability or flexibility to transform for different uses, cultural sustainability insofar as architectural proposals are adapted to the place or tradition, with its urban or natural landscape conditions, or the introduction of hybrid buildings (coliving, coworking) as formulas to reduce mobility and help with the personal and professional development of the younger population.
These are concepts related to the need for adaptation to new values that arise as a result of various global crises that alter economic and social structures, forcing the adoption of new work and coexistence models. It would be foreseeable that the more developed and culturally advanced countries would be the first to develop these types of projects, and gradually the rest could start incorporating them as prototypes. For this reason, I believe that our capacity for reaction in developing truly sustainable projects is an essentially cultural aspect that has a lot to do with our ability to adapt.
In purely architectural terms, Martí points out that the current trend is to opt for buildings that are coherent with their functionality and also with their surroundings: “We have seen how many of the projects carried out over the last 15 years and recognized as 'star architecture' have not worked. Difficult and costly to maintain, they have fallen into disuse, creating a serious problem for the administrations that have to manage them. This situation, along with a growing social awareness for sustainable architecture, has favored the need to propose coherent projects, sensitive to climate change and with greater longevity, whether due to their better aging or their ability to adapt to new usage programs.”
To ensure compliance with certain sustainability policies in construction, a series of international standards or certifications have been created: "As architects, we are increasingly faced with the obligation to comply with different types of environmental certifications or usage such as LEED gold or LEED platinum and the WELL certification. The first is a certification developed by the US Green Building Council, aimed at assessing the sustainability of a building by considering its environmental impact throughout its entire useful life. On the other hand, the WELL Building Standard™ is the most internationally recognized certification system for the design, construction, and operation of healthy buildings and is supported by the International Well Building Institute (IWBI). It addresses the most demanding international standards for human well-being and health. This certification is more user-oriented, certifying that spaces are conditioned so that people can work in the healthiest and most comfortable conditions."
When asked whether clients are already requesting sustainable options or if, on the contrary, it is the architects who propose them, Xavier Martí points out that: “Often it is us who take the initiative. Even though there is now more momentum and many companies have already internalized 'sustainability', there are still some clients who find it difficult to make the change, to understand it. So our job is to explain it to them, to show them that by applying a series of measures, which are also thoroughly worked on by certification engineering, it is possible to reduce consumption, be more efficient, and help reduce their environmental impact.”
Entre los nuevos proyectos enfocados a la sostenibilidad, OAB ha puesto en marcha el proyecto de un edificio de oficinas para la empresa Fitó, una obra pensada como isla que cuenta con una zona central enjardinada y que está siendo valorada por los principales gestores del real estate del país como “uno de los mejores proyectos de oficinas de España”. Para su construcción, amable en términos sostenibles, se ha contado con una gran parte de materiales prefabricados. Tal como nos cuenta Martí: “es un proyecto que contará con los sellos LEED GOLD y WELL, en el que hemos proyectado un sistema de fachada en la que se han reducido las aperturas. Es una solución modular prefabricada que dibuja unos trapecios que ajustan su apertura acristalada en función de la orientación de la fachada, como si fuera una especie de obturador fotográfico. De este modo se controla el grado de iluminación natural y su aporte térmico, reduciendo costes para su climatización.
The post-tensioned structure allows for the resolution of clear, flexible, and transformable spaces, extending the useful life of an office building that in the future could be reconfigured, for example, into housing, in an industrial neighborhood undergoing transformation like the office building in 22@.
The project has been designed under two complementary criteria. On one hand, to construct a building through industrialization that reduces emissions during its execution and when in service, and on the other hand, to design workspaces that are healthy for people.
Landscape offices, comfortable, well-lit, with a limited occupancy level, landscaped outdoor rest areas, gym, cafeteria, lactation areas, etc. At a time when new technologies exert pressure on work habits, it becomes necessary to manage this overload by improving our work environment.
One of the trends that has accelerated the most in recent times, especially after the pandemic, is the hybridization of buildings as a response to a greater social demand for spaces focused on health and well-being. Environments that are much more human and personalized, where sustainability, design, and technology converge in a versatile and adaptable space. In this regard, Martí points out that “the hybridization of buildings is a very common approach in high-rise projects of “high standing” such as retail on lower floors, hotels, and apartments, for example, on very central urban lands with high costs.
Is it possible to sideline such a model for social purposes? Xavier Martí wonders; and he continues: We have two pilot projects that we are carrying out in Sant Boi de Llobregat and Badalona, whose goal is to assist young people by offering the possibility of a housing option (coliving), a space for their professional development (coworking), a gym area, swimming pool... using the rooftops for outdoor fitness and service spaces, catering, and multipurpose rooms for socialization.
Concepts such as an internal displacement through courtyards and gardens using ramps are incorporated, promoting daily exercise or the foresight to be able to carry out an activity in the building from the home through an internal app. It is about a new model of coexistence, in which its architecture of interior courtyards, as a means of communication, updates the Mediterranean vernacular architecture.
Among the projects in which OAB has collaborated with NN, we find the building that today houses the Seventy Barcelona hotel. A new construction building where the choice of latest generation materials with environmental certificates was taken into account, prioritizing not only the technical characteristics but also the production and origin of the raw materials, always opting for eco-friendly choices. From a construction point of view, the architect points out:
The Seventy Hotel was designed to provide design solutions that reduce the energy costs required for its operation. The incorporation of a ventilated facade, the adjustment of glazed surface area in relation to the solid facade, or the addition of courtyards that allow for natural ventilation and lighting of the interior areas, are aspects not only related to the building's sustainability but also contribute to a better experience and comfort level for its users.
However, it was during its construction that the greatest degree of innovation was contributed by industrializing or prefabricating the structure and facades, thereby reducing the timeframes and optimizing energy costs throughout the process.
Regarding whether building rehabilitation can be a model of sustainable architecture, Xavier Martí states that "yes" and cites as an example the project developed for Núñez i Navarro in the promotion of apartments at Passeig de Gràcia, 125 in which:
“The transformation of the building involved the significant challenge of achieving, through the rehabilitation process and the merging of the two original houses, the adaptation of this set of buildings from the last century to current uses and needs. Now it has gone from 2 to 4 floors, better ventilated, with more natural light... We have achieved a healthier and more sustainable building”.
The direction that sustainability must take in architecture is clear. And it is more than evident that only through an awareness of the global problem posed by climate change and daily reflection will it be possible to create and incorporate new habits and behavioral changes to achieve real progress towards energy eco-efficiency.
