ETTA
Etta is a building where personal self-care products are fabricated for the group GPS which required a new plant for the exportation market. Under the necessary conditions for this area of production (hygiene, security, normativity) we perceived the opportunity for an image renovation that projected a search for professionalism and specialization in its processes which would be internalized through spaces and work equipment.
The project takes advantage of an existing industrial warehouse located in an industrial area of the city of Leon, Guanajuato, where 3 blocks were built in its interior. The first block (to the east) functions as a customs system for personnel, incoming raw materials and activities that do not require necessary technical restrictions concerning temperature or suspended particles in the environment. (administration area, lockers, dining)
The fabrication and its procedures are carried out in the central block. The procedures require regulated conditions such as isolation (thermic, suspended particles, hygiene). The majority of the equipment is found on an isolated platform between the roofing of the original industrial warehouse and the rooftop of this block. Regarding the HVAC equipment, it is located on a superior level and on the exterior of the building.
This second block of production is found isolated physically from the rest of the industrial warehouse and the access to this block and to the third block (to the west) is through a central bridge on the first level, restricting the access to the industrial warehouse through its lower level.
The design strategy was to keep both the material palette and color pallets at a minimum of elements utilizing one color (yellow) in a “onomatopoeia” way, which allowed for an easy conduction of personnel, from the access to the emergency exits. Both exterior and the interior of the blocks is covered by galvanized steel sheets which is material considered for its durability, neutrality and its ease for hygiene. The only chromatic-playful element is in reality a law specification in relation to the type and property of the water systems through its entry of the technical facade in the central block all the way to the area of production.
The organization proposal of the plan materialized through multiple reunions with the group GPS, where flowchart diagrams of the input and the process were discussed (Energy, personnel, raw materials, finished product, etc.) until a general agreement was approved by the actors: managers, leaders of operating units and specialized technicians with equipment. The design team had the responsibility of developing a proposal that transcended the traditional vicissitudes (antithetical expectations, programmatic contradictions and a restricting budgetary).
