xerox building

XEROX
BUILDING
Avenida Infante Dom Henrique (Lisbon), Portugal, 1996 – 2001
WORKPLACES
Location Avenida Infante Dom Henrique (Lisbon), Portugal
Client Xerox Portugal, SA
Programme Offices, dispatch and warehousing facilities
Plot Size 8,880 sq.m
Gross Built Area 24,800 sq.m
Total Building Cost EUR 9,5M
Construction Cost EUR 750.00 per sq.m
Project Status 1996 to 1999 (design) – 1999 to 2001 (construction)
Site plan
Open courtyard
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XEROX BUILDING
Avenida Infante Dom Henrique (Lisbon), Portugal, 1996 – 2001
Entrance
West facade
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XEROX BUILDING
Avenida Infante Dom Henrique (Lisbon), Portugal, 1996 – 2001
Southwest view
Upper floor
Ground floor
Basement
North facade
South facade
Section
The building was designed on the outcome
of the 1st prize on a short-list competition
promoted by Xerox Portugal for its
headquarters in Portugal. Given the
busy traffic intersection of the plot, the
building was devised in a U-shape, with
two parallel wings of offices connected by
a third block of equipments (auditorium,
showroom, refectory, etc), around a large
and enclosed void.
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With over 800 sq.m and 5-storey, the
monumentality of this atrium endorses
not only the needs for circulation and
reception, but also the less evident need
for silence and contemplation in the large
corporation. Yet, and notwithstanding
the growing tendency for privatisation
of public space and renouncing to the
restrictive notion of functionality of the
real estate market, the eminently public
character of this atrium allows us to
anticipate that it will be a space of event,
open to the city.
The compositional system of both
exterior and interior façades is based on a
construction module repeatedly developed
by PROMONTORIO. Its configuration
endorses the idea of a heavyweight
tectonic wherein a representational
skeleton of prefabricated concrete panels
visually holds the fragile elements–glass
and alternatively wood or zinc. Endorsing
the classical theme of post-and-lintel,
the representational transposition of the
idea of load runs across the building with
this concrete skeleton resting on a heavy
stereotomic granite plinth.