Cloud 9, Barcelona

Cloud 9 create a mixed media building in the digital area of Barcelona

Image © Luis Ros

The Media-ICT building was commissioned by The Consortium of the Zona Franca CZFBand 22 @ of Barcelona. 22@ is an experimental district with a powerful, distributed and accessible, energy load. Part of the Districlima network, where new business values are intangible.

Enric Ruiz-Geli, the director of Cloud 9, was extremely interested in this digital city model based on ICT (information and communication technology), with the idea of a city where what matters is knowledge, added value and patents. In short, the objective is for your architecture to be in sync with your own values.

The building volume forms a cube of 44m x 44m x 37.82m high; the site is 3,572.45 m2 in which the basement occupies the entire area, while above ground the occupation is 54.20%. In total, the Media-ICT has 16,000 m2 above ground and two floors below ground (7100 m2) with capacity for 200 parking spaces.

The building is divided so that the upper floors (from eighth to fourth) are rented for big companies, the second and third floor have small spaces for emergent companies and the first floor,a civic area, with the cibernariun and an auditorium. A space that offers a course programs open to all the city residents.

The ground floor does not have pillars; the public space takes up the building with 36m x 40m of free space. The lobby area is also open to the public which hosts exhibitions, workshops and events.

The construction is built from the top and moves downwards, becoming transparent, anti-gravitational, and almost liquid at the bottom. Thus, its impact on the street is minimal, about 8% mass with respect to the 1500 m2 floor surface area.

Unlike most of the buildings, which consume huge amounts of energy, the Media-ICT is designed to be a great generator and optimizes energy use. Thanks to the energy simulation of the building the demands of heat and cold are adjusted accordingly minimizing the dimensioning of installations. Whilst the façade, made of inflatable ETFE cushions oriented south, act as a variable sunscreen, opening in winter to gain solar energy, and closing in summer to protect and shade. In the south west façade, Nitrogen based fog is introduced in the cushions, that by increasing its particles greater opacity is produced, thereby protecting users. The building is equipped with multiple temperature sensors that collect exterior information to adjust the interior conditions.

Media-ICT targets and achieves:

1-20% CO2 reduction due to the use of District Cooling, clean energy.

2-10% CO2 reduction due to the photovoltaic roof.

3-55% CO2 reduction due to the dynamic ETFE sun filters.

4-10% CO2 reduction due to energy efficiency related to smart sensors.

Total 95% CO2 reduction, the Media-ICT is a NET building almost a net zero building.