Headquarters for Apa Târnavei Mari (ATM) — the water and sewerage operator for the Mediaș area and Sibiu County — in a complex intervention on a site near the Târnava Mare river: a new administrative building (S-B+G+2F), a new technological hall and the refurbishment of an existing operations building. The project was won through an architecture competition organised by the client.

Challenges

The brief imposed an unusual decision for a public utility company: how do you build a visual identity for an operator whose business is water? The standard answer would have been a neutral, anonymous administrative building. The architecture competition organised by ATM explicitly opened the possibility of a more ambitious answer — a portrait building of the client, in which the architecture itself says what the client does. PPAE won the competition with a proposal for an explicit water metaphor, carried through in massing, landscaping and detail.

Solutions

Massing in three superimposed horizontal waves. The administrative building is built as a suite of three curved volumes sliding over one another — fluid horizontal gestures evoking the movement of a body of water. The three waves mark the building’s three levels, with successive setbacks of the facade planes. The massing decision is a direct translation of the client’s business into built form.

Landscaping with the water theme extended. A reflecting pool along the main approach, a closed-circuit fountain lit in an aquatic register — an explicit reflection of the company’s business. The exterior lighting brings out the sculptural quality of the volumes, so the building stays recognisable after dark.

A vertical foyer with a curved curtain wall and a sculpture-stair. The main access and the staff access meet in a shared foyer with a curved curtain wall, opening across the full height of the building and closing into a conservatory on the 2nd floor. The interior stair is cast in reinforced concrete and treated as a sculptural object.

Three interventions in a single procedure. Besides the new administrative building, the project included a new technological hall and the refurbishment of the existing C3 building (Operations Directorate), repartitioned for changing rooms and washrooms. For the client, a single procedure delivered the complete headquarters infrastructure — administrative, technological and operational.

Result

For Apa Târnavei Mari, a locally recognisable headquarters and a complete functional complex, completed in 2014. For PPAE, a competition-winning project — confirmation of the ability to propose and carry through strong-identity architectural solutions, based on a careful reading of the client. For the town of Mediaș, an unexpected building in an industrial context, rising above the anonymity typical of utility buildings.

Do you have an investment in a corporate headquarters that represents you visually and functionally? The PPAE team can support your project from concept to completion, including in procurement through an architecture competition. Contact us