Architecture: Buró4, Hombre de Piedra
Architects: Jesús Diáz Gómez, Ramón Cuevas Rebollo, Jorge Ferral Sevilla, Juan Rojas Fernández, José Luis Sainz-Pardo Prieto-Castro
Area: 508 m²
Location: Seville, Spain
Year: 2013
Photographs: Jesus Granada
Suppliers: Lamp Lighting
Quantity Surveyor: Manuel J. Cansino Conejero
The Port of Seville required a new Cruise Terminal with a flexible, multipurpose, expandable, easily removable and even removable character. This would allow it to adapt to the difficulty of forecasting the volume of passengers in the port and would not limit the possibilities of the valuable urban-port space of the Muelle de las Delicias. It was proposed to solve the project through maritime containers. On the other hand, the place, next to the old town, demanded an object of architectural quality that promoted dialogue between the port and its urban environment.
On-site work could only last 15 days, the maximum time between two consecutive cruise ships docking. The modular construction with recycled shipping containers would allow for work in the workshop, would ensure precision on site, and would ensure compliance with execution deadlines.
The sustainable design of the terminal takes advantage of the constructive and plastic possibilities of the reused containers, adapting them to a specific environment and climate. The heat of the sun in Seville on the sheet metal envelope could turn the terminal into an oven. Bioclimatic strategies are, therefore, essential.
Separate "high cube" containers are arranged in parallel, and standard containers are placed over the space between them, the floor of which is cut and lowered to the height of the previous ones. Thanks to this, double heights are obtained that relieve the space and allow the hot air to be placed at the top by stratification. The openings according to the prevailing winds of the upper containers allow cross ventilation that removes this heat accumulated in the upper part. The exterior white paint allows the reflection of up to 90 percent of the solar radiation and its special composition with ceramic microspheres avoids its excessive heating.
In order to achieve the large open hall that was needed despite the limitation in width of the containers, this space was designed transversely to them. The maximum possible gaps are opened in the side plate, but without compromising its structural stability both in its final phase and during its transport, assembly and disassembly.
The upper containers act as skylights. The lights and shadows generated, as well as the structural metal studs, make it possible to differentiate internally the different juxtaposed spaces of the containers, recalling, on a smaller scale, the succession of the traditional port ships. As the upper containers are separated from each other and project in flight towards the river, they are clearly recognized individually and receive the passenger arriving by boat.
The lower floor, more massive, is depressed with respect to the height of the city. Separate skylights allow you to see both banks through them. Up close they clearly show its nature as a shipping container. From the other bank, Los Remedios, make up a low plinth-shaped plinth that does not compete with the regionalist architecture behind it. The doors that are removed from the upper containers are used inside; the original floors are also used, once treated, as finished pavement. The finishes do not attempt to hide the industrial details that allow the container to be recognized, giving the space an unmistakable personality.
According to the locator plates of each of the 23 reused containers, it has covered 1,150,000 km. This equals three times the journey from earth to the moon or 29 times around the world.
While the terminal is not being used by the port, it is rented to be used as an exhibition hall, as an event hall, or even as a concert space.
Description by project team
Buró4 together with Male Stone Architects have built the port of Seville maritime station to service large passenger cruises. For this, the reuse of maritime containers has been chosen, providing a contemporary architecture that offers a building of great utility and spatial qualification, based on criteria of sustainability, flexibility and capacity for growth. Teamwork has been carried out from the bureau4 and Hombre de Piedra, with the collaboration of Tercera Piel Arquitectura and Construcciones Cabello, so a project and work service has been offered where the entire process has been addressed as a single highly complex problem that It has allowed a high control of design, terms and costs. The comprehensive management has made it possible to carry out the project and the work, turnkey, in just 2 months. The port of Seville needed a new multipurpose cruise terminal with a flexible nature that could adapt to the unpredictable number of passengers who could use it on a regular basis. On-site construction should have the ability to be extensible, mobile, having to solve its construction in 15 days, just in the space between two consecutive cruises.
The port authority proposed the idea of using maritime transport containers.
The location in the port, but near the historic center, was demanding an object of architectural quality that would dialogue with its urban environment. The modular construction with recycled shipping containers was mostly carried out in the workshop, ensuring with the precision of on-site work the guarantee of completing the works on time.
The sustainable design of the terminal takes advantage of the constructive potential and plasticity of the reused containers, adapting them to a specific environment and climate. The heat of the sun in Seville on the metal envelope could turn the terminal into an oven. For them, bioclimatic strategies have therefore been essential.
