This small building is the visible part of a whole that remains hidden from view. It is the head of a new energy infrastructure for the city of Palencia. A District Heating network promoted by the company DH Ecoenergías, a brave pioneer in the energy transformation of Spanish cities. Palencia’s network is the first of a long series of similar projects that seeks to decarbonize a good part of the national urban geography, turning off fossil fuel heaters – diesel and gas, costly internationally sourced – to replace them with a clean network, fueled by renewable resources that will largely come from an improved management of Spanish forests.
Thus, the architecture of the Central is symbolic, both in its geometry – based on energy and economic circularity – and in its materiality – which opts for literal and pedagogical transparency – presenting the whole as an identity. Two main elements make up the building: a bathtub of heavy concrete and a light steel and plastic lantern – recyclable. The base serves as support for all machinery and establishes terrestrial connections with the outside – through two large, galvanized steel gates – and with the biomass silo located underground. Inside, the concrete base has a cover that becomes a perimeter walkway that surrounds all the machinery. The pill-shaped floor allows optimal circulation of visitors around the complete energy process. The steel and plastic lantern reinterpret economical solutions typical of industrial buildings to establish a significant connection with the community it serves: a small cathedral of energy. The facade of polycarbonate sheets – ribbed on three scales – is configured as a soft whitish veil supported on a delicate galvanized and painted steel wire structure. As a final touch, a translucent tower expels the white smoke resulting from a filtering process that occupies most of the industrial space.
