Police Station by Josep Ferrando and Sergi Serrat in Salt, Spain

Catalan architects, Josep Ferrando and Sergi Serrat  are the names behind the police station in Salt, Catalonia. The project is a challenge of topography and function, and instead of presenting a hostile face to the city, it connects with its setting.



As Josep Ferrando told us during the opening of the “Matter and Light” exhibition at the Aedes Gallery in Berlin, designing for public institutions is very stimulating because it gives you the opportunity to “architecturally” interact with lots of people. And you get the idea of what the Catalan-based architect intended in his design of this police station when you see the model showcased in Berlin: a sequence of volumes, symbolically rendered through the glass.





Architects Josep Ferrando and Sergi Serrat stepped right away from the classic stereotype of a hostile, closed, dark environment and came up with a building that looks nothing like what you’d expect from a police station; here it is designed to be open and accessible to the city and to the citizens it serves. And everything is based on the principle of “matter and light”.





The outside of the station is concrete, the floors are stone, the walls are wood or white-painted brick and the ceilings are the purest white. A number of patios flood the interiors with natural light, and the building’s functional plan differentiates the public and private entrances, which are kept separate for security purposes.





But the fact is that this building also strikes you for other reasons. When you look at the building’s orientation on the site, nestled closely against the grove of beeches alongside, you can see the delicate way this police station connects with the city. There are no rails or bars blocking access, there’s a just small green area between the building and the road. Don’t know about you, but we think it’s a great example to follow!

Project: Josep Ferrando and Sergi Serrat
Location: Salt, Spain
Anno: 2012
Photography: © Adrià Goula, courtesy of Josep Ferrando
Other links: http://www.livegreenblog.com/events/matter-and-light-exhibition-of-josep-ferrando-at-the-aedes-gallery-berlin--9670/, http://www.floornature.com/overview-architecture-news/news-floornaturelive-with-josep-ferrando-at-the-aedes-gallery-in-berlin-9836/