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Kanlux - Adaptation of the former military canteen into an office building

Medusagroup

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Designer
Medusagroup
Client
KPE Nieruchomości
Floor area
900.00 ㎡
Completion
2016

Ever since Radzionków was a place full of typical workers’ tenements (in Silesian Industrial Region). In an attempt to revitalise this dilapidated area, one of the buildings, going back to the turn of the 1960s & 1970s, with flat roofing and simple cuboidal body, has been incorporated into the new design. The pavilion, composed of four adjacent cuboids, with an atrium inside, used to serve as a military canteen. The task was to re-design it into a new, representative head office, which would house a showroom and company labs. The quest to find a simple and practical camouflage in order to hide the imperfections of the post-military facility, has made the architects reach for pre-fabricated solutions. The first step was to enrich the elevation by spray-coating it with a graphite layer and a mix of opalescent mica fractions. The next step was to install a coherent shell-the perforated cable trays-onto the heterogeneous elevation of the building. This made the overall form of the building look more peaceful, allowing to save both the users of the building and the secrets of the company labs from the prying eyes of inquisitive observers. This solution has also proved to be successful in terms of eliminating extra heat inside the buildings. The cable trays allow for just the right level of daylight required for office work. The new, perforated form has introduced an interesting play of lights, fully compatible with the profile of the company producing lighting solutions.