Modularity in Design and Industrial Prefrabrication – [baragaño] arquitectos
Lunawood Thermowood and steel create a great combination in the modular concept of [baragaño] arquitectos, a Spanish architecture office located in Madrid. Sustainable Lunawood products are ideal for transportable modular systems due to their low weight. In addition, it brings warmth and beautiful aesthetics to the modules.
[baragaño] arquitectos presents a new spatial and design concept – they are specialized in modular architecture. They collaborate closely with industrial players to improve manufacturing rates. Any project that enters the studio is prepared to be done in the factory. This differentiates [baragaño] arquitectos from other architecture studios.
Philosophy springs from the childhood and busy timetables
Sergio Baragaño, the founder of the Baragaño Architects, says that his philosophy springs from the childhood. “I have always been interested in the industrial issue. Perhaps it is because since I was little, I have lived in cities with a lot of industry (in Asturias). One of our first projects was the Cruise Terminal in Bilbao, where we had to complete the building in 6 months. That was when we began to develop the industrial and modular concept.”
B-Home.
The combination of steel and wood
[baragaño] arquitectos uses the combination of steel and wood in its modular concept: the structure is metallic, and the coverings are made of wood. “I worked for years with ArcelorMittal, which is world’s leading steel and mining company. There I got to know the material and decided to use it as the structure in our modular system. Later, when we started to design homes with B-Home, we were interested in introducing wood to cladding, indoors and outdoors for the warm and familiar feeling. That time I found Lunawood Thermowood. It has many good properties, like lightweight, that support our modular concepts.
“We see Lunawood as a warm and easily approachable material”
Casa Montana.
Lunawood has many virtues
[baragaño] arquitectos has designed several modular homes with Lunawood Thermowood. “I find that Lunawood has many virtues, including aesthetics, warmth, familiarity and sustainability. It is also easy to assemble and work. In our projects it has worked well, and it ages naturally”, Mr. Baragaño summarizes.
He continues: “In our projects so far, we have not given any type of treatment to Lunawood Thermowood, but we have allowed it to age naturally. Customers also accepted it and thus they have not had to worry about the maintenance. Anyway, we are also interested in testing treatments for future projects, especially in the urban context as the need of maintenance is frequently asked. If Surface treatment is required, I would suggest an establishing of a good maintenance service to make it easy for the end-users.
There is a clear boom of building with Wood in many European countries. For instance, in France the government supports projects that use wood in the structure or facade cladding. “In Spain, wood has not had a very good image in construction, partly because of the cheap and poor quality. Now things are changing in Spain too and wood has a better image”, cheers Sergio Baragaño.
“Wood has nowadays better image in Spain”
At the moment [baragaño] arquitectos co-operates actively in ROOM2030 project. It is an R&D project, led by ArcelorMittal, to create a room of the future. The project has three dimensions, of which the development of technologies and materials is one, manufacturing is another and marketing is the third. A consortium has been created, made up of ArcelorMittal, [baragaño] and several technology providers.
Article is based on the interview of Sergio Baragaño in Avilés, Spain on March 22, 2021 made by Mrs. Julia Ahvenainen, International Marketing Manager at Oy Lunawood Ltd.
