DH Ecoenergías thermal plant in Ávila

About

The Ávila thermal power plant -- designed by FRPO, the Madrid-based practice of Fernando Rodríguez and Pablo Oriol, covers an area of 1,720 square meters and is the studio's second collaboration with DH Ecoenergías. This company is in Spain a pioneer in supplying district heating from renewable power sources, mainly forest biomass extracted locally, ruling out fossil fuels and committing to a sustainable energy model. The facility is part of a larger regional project being developed in twenty Spanish cities. The Ávila plant thus shares geometrical and constructional criteria with the Palencia thermal power plant, but is adapted to the specific conditions of the site, which is in an industrial area near the city center, on rocky terrain that has a bearing on construction decisions. To avoid the high costs of digging to create a basement, the building rises on a solid base that adjusts the lower floor to the ground level. Walls of textured concrete up to 5.4 meters high delimit and shape this base, forming a continuous plane on which the machines are arranged. The upper level is built over this base, enveloped by a facade system that echoes the one used in Palencia, introducing geometric variations that make the different plants have a coherent family of enclosures.