THE LAB OF THE FUTURE
The project aims to foster new relationships between human beings and technology, conceiving more than just a facility—a true machine for research and experimentation. To achieve this, the design follows two complementary approaches:
Façade & Urban Identity
The building’s identity is expressed through its primary south façade facing Banyeres Road—its most public and urban orientation. Acting as a light filter and solar shield, the envelope reinterprets textile patterns, folding subtly with fabric-like lightness to unveil the main entrance. A generous lobby houses shared amenities and social spaces, seamlessly connecting the public realm to the grand access staircase. This central circulation volume creates a sequence of platforms at varying heights, organized around a column of diffused daylight that pierces the building from roof to lobby. These platforms serve as informal meeting areas and places for idea exchange—an internal extension of the public sphere functioning as a vertical agora.
Programmatic Volumes & Materiality
The façades, core, and staircase delineate three main programmatic volumes: Laboratories, Specialized Fire Labs, and R&D Hubs—all designed as large, adaptable spaces.
While seemingly simple from the outside, the interior reveals itself as a complex, vibrant world—a rich landscape defined by dynamic daylight, visual transparency, and spatial contrast across levels. Architecture, like technology, captivates through the precision of its operation and the harmony among its components: the beauty of the machine.
The project aims to foster new relationships between human beings and technology, conceiving more than just a facility—a true machine for research and experimentation. To achieve this, the design follows two complementary approaches:
- Linear Infrastructure Core: A central linear core articulates and organizes the flow of people, building services, MEP installations, and technical spaces in a flexible, evolutionary manner.
- Adaptable Spatial Framework: Each space connected to the core is given multi-functional potential through its volume, daylighting, and materiality, enabling a wide range of unprecedented configurations.
Façade & Urban Identity
The building’s identity is expressed through its primary south façade facing Banyeres Road—its most public and urban orientation. Acting as a light filter and solar shield, the envelope reinterprets textile patterns, folding subtly with fabric-like lightness to unveil the main entrance. A generous lobby houses shared amenities and social spaces, seamlessly connecting the public realm to the grand access staircase. This central circulation volume creates a sequence of platforms at varying heights, organized around a column of diffused daylight that pierces the building from roof to lobby. These platforms serve as informal meeting areas and places for idea exchange—an internal extension of the public sphere functioning as a vertical agora.
Programmatic Volumes & Materiality
The façades, core, and staircase delineate three main programmatic volumes: Laboratories, Specialized Fire Labs, and R&D Hubs—all designed as large, adaptable spaces.
- Laboratory Organization: The laboratory volume spans four levels. Double-height laboratories (7 m and 10 m clear heights) feature glazed perimeter walls and skylighted atriums, drawing deep natural light into the floor plate and creating visual connections across building levels.
- Environmental Envelope: Four distinct façade typologies identify the programmatic volumes while responding to the specific thermal and solar requirements of each orientation. Together, they form a compact, intriguing volume whose appearance shifts dramatically between day and night.
While seemingly simple from the outside, the interior reveals itself as a complex, vibrant world—a rich landscape defined by dynamic daylight, visual transparency, and spatial contrast across levels. Architecture, like technology, captivates through the precision of its operation and the harmony among its components: the beauty of the machine.
Client
AITEX
Program
Laboratory, offices, auditorium, education and exhibition space
Partner in charge
Francisco MARTINEZ
Toshihiro KUBOTA
Architect & Project manager
Nuria VICENT
Joaquin CLIMENT
Javier MOLTO
Francisco MARCO
Site supervision
Francisco Berna
Antonio Martinez
Structure Engineer
FVAI Estructuras
MEP Engineer
VALNU
Sustainability
EMETRES
Perspectives
Kubota & Bachmann Architects
AITEX
Program
Laboratory, offices, auditorium, education and exhibition space
Partner in charge
Francisco MARTINEZ
Toshihiro KUBOTA
Architect & Project manager
Nuria VICENT
Joaquin CLIMENT
Javier MOLTO
Francisco MARCO
Site supervision
Francisco Berna
Antonio Martinez
Structure Engineer
FVAI Estructuras
MEP Engineer
VALNU
Sustainability
EMETRES
Perspectives
Kubota & Bachmann Architects