Projects

The YUTE’S project is an extension of an existing textile warehouse, in an industrial zone close to Barcelona called Sant Just. YUTE’s is located near the Walden 7 housing complex, by Ricardo Bofill, which has inspired the process of the design for its size, force and colour.

The existing building included an office, packaging and storage area. The client required an enlarged storage capacity, with the greatest possible respect for the existing building, by reusing the maximum number of elements like doors, fences, windows…The final warehouse triples its initial storage capacity, while the offices and packaging area have remained the same but have substantially varied in distribution.

The construction combines different techniques, chosen by its quickness of montage: for the main structure prefabricated concrete pillars, beams and floor slabs were used, while for the enclosure of the new level we choose a much lighter material, coloured corrugated steel panels.

The project extends the spread of the existing building above, and wraps it in metal skins of colour that refer to the drapes of coloured fabric made and sold by the company. The lightness, the size and the mounting process of the steel corrugated panels is reminiscent of the long textile pieces that are kept and packed inside the building. It has the ease of envelope like a piece of fabric, it is flexible to use, there are several different colours that one could choose, and it is something prefabricated as well: it has its roots in industry. There is also a relation with the textile pieces in that both need a structure of support: they could rise like an end of a skirt (the canopies in the front façade), it could turn and show the seams (the west façade were the clients enter)… leaving some edges open to see all the layers of the different movements of the structure and the history of the building.

The final dressing is open, more similar to the logic of a costume than to a closed box.