Innovative sun protection at the Fira de Barcelona, large UPO-480 lattices with two-colour slats.
The Fira de Barcelona is one of the leading exhibitors in Spain, not only because of the capacity of its facilities but also because of the roots of the events it holds. Officially established in 1932, it is considered one of the economic engines of the city due to its capacity for international projection and the volume of business generated around it. The fair has two venues, the original one in Montjuïc and the extension made in the new Gran Vía venue. In the latter facilities, the most important events are held and that welcome the most public, such as the Mobile World Congress, focused on telephony and electronics, or the leading national construction fair, Construmat.
Location: Barcelona (Catalonia)
Web: https://www.firabarcelona.com/es/
Customer: Fira de Barcelona
Typology: Industrial architecture
Sun protection needs
The facilities of the Fira de Barcelona are made up of several pavilions, with an elongated format, with open corridors between blocks that facilitate the loading and unloading of goods. To facilitate this task, the elevations have greater slab heights, and extended spacings between columns that do not limit the characteristics of the pavilions.
In addition, this configuration, which is very advantageous to be able to hold several fairs simultaneously, necessarily implies an increase in the surface area of the exterior façade, and with it, in a location like Barcelona, the need to implement solar protection systems.
Given the recovery of the pace of exhibitions, there has been a need to expand the office areas, and with it, a reorganization of the space available within the Fair. The entity carried out interior separation, conditioning and exterior enclosure work to adapt it to this new use. As usual in offices, the intensive use of computers and screens in these areas forced the use of lattice systems for sun protection that are in accordance with the needs of the center, both functional and aesthetic.
Our contribution to the project
For this installation, the
UPO-480-Fe
has been selected for its ability to bring modernity to a space, both for the scale of its slats and for the finish with the slats in two colours, metallic silver on the outside and white on the inside. In addition, this system has a few specific technical solutions, which have added value to the sun protection solution.
These vertical slats pivot off-center with respect to their axis, a design requirement that normally complicates the operation and reduces the useful life, but in the case of this product, thanks to its lightness and the self-lubricating nylon end caps, they have allowed fluid and smooth handling, without accelerated wear.
To unify the design language of the office decoration, manufactured with the slats in two colours, exterior silver and interior white, which allows to improve the comfort of the offices by the constant light sieving of the white colour. The UPO-480-Fe have demonstrated their ability to provide added value, with unprecedented characteristics in their price range.
