Jesús Granada · Architectural Photographer

Galenicum Headquarters in Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona

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Central courtyard. Galenicum Headquarters in Esplugues, Spain. Harquitectes. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Central courtyard. Galenicum Headquarters in Esplugues, Spain. Harquitectes. Photograph by Jesús Granada. (inv. JG1123-15)

Project essentials

Typology
Architecture upon the existing › Adaptive reuse
Materials
CLT · concrete · glass
Concepts
CLT cloisters · climatic gradient · rehabilitated industrial shed

New headquarters for the pharmaceutical company Galenicum in Esplugues de Llobregat. Across 4,102 sqm, Harquitectes transforms a pre-existing industrial building into a workspace where a series of cloisters or rings of CLT timber panels organise the twelve departments and 140 employees into «tribes» around a central landscaped courtyard.

The climate strategy is hierarchical: the work rings are actively conditioned with radiant-cooling floors, while the interstitial space between rings and the original envelope is passively tempered. This approach turns the existing geometry and materiality —industrial columns, a north-facing sawtooth roof, courtyard— into climate infrastructure.

At the centre of each group, the void: an interior garden beneath the preserved structure, where the collective life of the company takes place.

Common access and collective leisure area. Galenicum Headquarters in Esplugues, Spain. Harquitectes. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Common access and collective leisure area (image no. JG1123-03)
Central interior workspace. Galenicum Headquarters in Esplugues, Spain. Harquitectes. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Central interior workspace (image no. JG1123-13)
Central cloister courtyard with garden and connections to inner workspaces. Galenicum Headquarters in Esplugues, Spain. Harquitectes. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Central cloister courtyard with garden and connections to inner workspaces (image no. JG1123-16)
Landscaped interior space below the existing industrial structure. Galenicum Headquarters in Esplugues, Spain. Harquitectes. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Landscaped interior space below the existing industrial structure (image no. JG1123-18)

Full project description on the Harquitectes website.

Project data

Architect
Harquitectes
Location
Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, España
Client
GALENICUM
Quantity surveyor
Carles Bou
Structural engineering
DSM Arquitectes
Services / MEP
M7 Enginyers
Collaborators
Meri Mensa, Lucía Ibáñez, Maria Azkarate, Adriana Parcerisa, Itziar González, Cuca Vizmanos
Design
2018-2020
Construction
2020-2022
Area
4.102 m²
Awards
CSCAE Rehabilitation Award 2023
CSCAE Spanish Architecture Award 2023
Mapei Sustainable Building Award — 2nd Prize 2023
Egurtek Special Local Wood Award 2024
Selected — BEAU XVI (Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial) 2023
Selected — European Award for Architectural Heritage Intervention (AHI) 2023
Finalist — Premi Catalunya Construcció (Functional Rehabilitation) 2023
Photography
© Jesús Granada, 2024

Published in

Photographic report

Inventory number
JG1123
Production date
February 2024
Commission
El Croquis editorial
Cameras
Sony α7RII · Hasselblad L1D-20c
Lenses
Canon TS-E 17 mm f/4L · 24 mm f/3.5L II · 50 mm f/2.8L Macro
Canon EF 70-200 mm f/4L USM · Hasselblad 28 mm f/2.8–f/11
Postproduction
María Arias de Saavedra
Digital archive
TIFF 8-bit · Adobe RGB 1998 · resolution 30 × 50 cm @ 400 ppi (medium size)
Photographs
19 TIFF files · request license →