Mercadona Lecture Hall and Data Processing Centre (DPC)
A building with character that moves away from the idea that industrial architecture is anodyne.
Client
Mercadona, a leading company in the national food distribution sector. It currently has more than 1,500 stores, supplied by 9 of its own logistics centers. It has a workforce of 75,000 workers, who develop their professional careers in the company.
Challenge
The management model on which Mercadona is based, total quality, means that the company’s employees are constantly learning, hence the need to construct a building dedicated to this specific training. In addition, it was necessary to have a new Data Protection Center (DPC), and the computer offices linked to its operation.
Therefore, we came up with a program that responded to two needs: training classrooms and computer offices.
STRATEGY
We wanted to make a building with character. A building that would move away from the idea that industrial architecture is anodyne. We were concerned about materiality. We wanted it to transmit the values of the company, and to adapt to its spirit, to its raison d’être.
We wanted to give prominence to the use, that each piece reflected its function. We wanted the outside to show what was going on inside.
SOLUTION
It was clear to us that the training classrooms, the company’s identity due to its total quality model, should be the generators of the entire space. They should organize the entire structure and be recognized from the outside of the building.
We chose to build them with the solidity of concrete. But we wanted to customize this material and we created a special mold, a formwork based on shopping carts, the sign of identity, which would subtly leave its mark on the exterior and interior of the building.
