Refurbishment of Gestamp offices. Zamudio Technology Park

Year of completion: 2014

Location: Zamudio Technology Park. Bizkaia.

Materials used:`Solid wood treated

Detail of the office project in the Zamudio Technology Park

Produced by Trabe interiorismo. This is the first of several offices produced for this company, which deals in the production of parts for the automobile market. A 1500 square metre property divided into several areas: reception area, general work area and management area, with main office and meeting room.

The entire office is decorated with carpeted floor and dark grey tiled ceiling, and is divided using battened wooden screens according to the design by Trabe interiorismo. Forming compositions using battens measuring 8 x 3 centimetres in cross-section, in different shapes, curved, zig-zag , half-moon, etc., we adapted our work to meet the owner’s needs in each area.

An extremely difficult job, as we were working with solid wood in the battens that had to be attached together ensuring that the strength remained balanced and none of them gave way, leading the screen to start to bend or split from the battens.

Solid wood always involves a certain amount of movement, as it is a living material that moves, depending on the degree of humidity in the office. In this case, it was fitted by machining and not just by way of gluing the battens. This allows for the battens to move to a certain extent, to avoid cracks or pieces giving way.

We started by making a template using the numeric control machine to precisely reproduce the ground plan drawn by Trabe. This was used as a guide when installing the battens, placing a guide on the floor and another on the ceiling and attaching the battens to it to make a balanced curve in perfect alignment.

Insofar as the finish of the wood, an open pore varnish gave the feeling of touching natural wood. We ruled out a densely covered finish, as it could give the feeling of being an artificial material and not wood.

Although we attached all of the pieces firmly together, there were some areas of this screen that had to be removable to access the interior installations and to allow for painting and maintenance in the interior area.

• The rest of the office was decorated by area, with:
• Smooth beech panelling from floor to ceiling with a horizontal grain.
• One-centimetre gaps at the joint between panels
• Very thin layer of varnish in a natural shade in the main office, the meeting room, the back of reception (as can be seen in one of the photographs), the reception hall, or the stairway to the office.

The desk shown in the photograph was specially decorated, combining a natural shade with a wengue-coloured dye in combination with the steel-covered columns. The desk had no floor support and involved a metal structure between columns, covered with the board, equipped inside to serve its purpose.

This same natural wengue combination was used on the management secretary’s table. As a special element in the meeting room, the table was covered with leather, combined with wood veneer and metal structure.