With a gross floor area of 60,000 square meters, the new pharmaceutical production plant for the Faes Farma group is located in the Bizkaia Science and Technology Park, in Derio. Adapted to a complex topography with substantial slopes, the building designed by IDOM —Gonzalo Carro and Patxi Matute— breaks up into three blocks: one for offices and laboratories, laid out around two large courtyards, and the other two for manufacturing and the warehouse.

The white facades get their abstract character from the solar-control elements that form them. The grid of existing louvers on the main facade addresses solar-control needs. The west facade is designed as a continuous perforated white plane that avoids direct late-afternoon sunlight. The abstraction of the building’s formal language turns out to be key to reducing the impact of its volume.