"Cogesol" Building, Madrid

Abstract

The functions to be met by this building were as follows. The housing of the necessary machinery for the manufacture of caffein free coffee, reception store, silo, stores, nightwatchman's house, offices, garage and workshop, dressing rooms. As the northern side, facing the Barajas highway, was the more important, the main building of the factory was placed on that side. Along the south, facing a secondary access road, the office block, the staff rooms and the watchman's house have been located. Between the two nuclei is the loading yard. The manufacturing tower has a metal structure, slender and smooth. The vertical and horizontal columns and beams have been hidden within the rear wall, the intermediate partition and the lift shaft. The main longitudinal stabilising member crosses this lift shaft, hence the former is discontinuous. The wind pressure acting on the tower is transmitted to the adjacent building, but as the two are separated by a dilation joint, flexible thrust connections are fitted between them. The long structural members were erected in sections, and the weldings were done with great care to avoid subsequent deformations, which would have shown on the smooth exterior. To an external observer the factory zone stands out clearly from the rest, for the tower is enclosed largely in transparent glass, so that all the machinery can be seen from outside. The stores, on the other hand, are enclosed with brick walls, and enhance the light and transparent quality of the tower. This contrast is further developed by the relative volumes and shapes of the various parts of the project, which produce an organic but spectacular sense of dynamic unity.