Arriva Heaquarters / RVDM

Architect: RVDM
Location: Guimarães, Portugal
Design Team: Ricardo Senos, Liliana Simões, Stela Pervanova, Damião Santos, Nuno Marques
Client: Arriva – Portugal
Building Company: Combitur, Lda
Total Area: 3010 sqm
Completion: 2009
Photographs: FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Situated closely to the entry of new tolls at Guimarães – South motorway A11, the new centre of operations of Arriva-Portugal, a public transport company with a large deployment in the Minho region, came to solve a logistical problem of the company replacing the former location in the heart of Guimarães, by another of great accessibility.

The new facility consists of office building, maintenance shop and parking facilities for 96 buses. The office building is glass-coated lacquer, seeking advantage of the local landscape, views and solar orientation. The block of maintenance developed along his back towards the neighbour buildings seeks to control the noise. The two buildings springing up in the eastern border of the plot, intend to release the maximum possible area for manoeuvring and parking of the buses. The configuration and deployment of these geometries result from the interaction between these two buildings. One first emerging as the “face” of the set, while the workshop interacts with the parking.

The physical connection between the two, made peripherally, allows large autonomy among blocks, as well as great comfort and sound insulation. A courtyard between the two volumes reinforces this autonomy while offering a meeting place and rest one.