Braga invests $20 million to convert former Lactogal into business center

Braga-based real estate investment company Castro Group will transform the former Lactogal factory located in Matosinhos, Porto district, into an 18,000 square meter business center, as announced today. Second That business magazine, is an investment of 20 million euros.

The Braga group said in a statement that the new complex already has a name – SPARK – Smart Park Matosinhos, which reflects the concept idealized for this project: a smarter building focused on the people who occupy it – “smart buildings” – and which, in the same time, associated with the planet.

The competition was attended by six national architectural firms, the winner of which was Paulo Merlini Architects. Guided by the motto “We are more”, this office is known for developing projects that “give people the right incentives, positively influencing their homeostatic levels.”

Photo: shots from the stage of the competition

The idea competition, notes Castro Group, was aimed at finding the best architectural solution to adapt existing buildings to new uses for offices and services while maintaining their industrial architecture.

“In this competition, we had high-quality proposals, among which the project presented by Paulo Merlini stands out because it is in line with the values ​​of the Group, and projects in which we want to make our mark,” says Paulo Castro, CEO of Castro Group.

“We also highlight the quality of the intervention proposal, in which the restoration of the existing one was privileged and the new construction looked harmonious. The selected office was able to present an approach that emphasizes concern for the idealization of spaces that combine the quality of work with the quality of life and well-being of its users. At the same time, they found in nature a motto to improve and dynamize the surrounding space through the creation of spaces open to the community and services that create a fluid and synergistic environment between interior and exterior,” he adds.

The current state of the plant. Photo: DR

The current state of the plant. Photo: DR

The current state of the plant. Photo: DR

The current state of the plant. Photo: DR

For his part, Paulo Merlini, CEO and founder of the winning office, states that “From the first visit to the building, it was immediately clear that any intervention should maintain and ideally enhance the energy of the pre-existing building, from what was once a symbol region”.

He adds: “It became one of the main prerequisites for the whole project. Although one of the principles of the competition was to double the building area of ​​the original, we tried to make our intervention as less invasive as possible by highlighting this sleeping giant. We have developed a solution that, on the one hand, seeks to emphasize the presence of the original building, and on the other hand, seeks to become an expression of what we think the office of the future, post-pandemic reality should be like. A space that responds to biological needs rooted in our genome, a building that expresses itself in a new fusion of home and office.”

In this new proposal, the connection between indoor spaces (offices of the future) and outdoor spaces (green spaces and open to the community) is present at the meeting point of people, ideas, business, architecture and nature.

Laktogal began construction in 1964 and was completed in 1967. The plant was used for the production and storage of milk and was taken out of production in 2009.