The building is located in a new ensanche in the Southwest of Madrid, close to the M-40 ringroad. Despite its urban character, the building is located close to big city voids which constitute urban heat sinks. In addition, it is located on a south-looking slope which grants a very good solar orientation.
The lot and housing program size lead to divide the project in two pieces which, adapting to the site’s perimeter, form two interior plazas connected by escalating stands.
The deep buildings are lit and ventilated by a public network of wind-catching patios, corridors and social condensers which are connected to the plazas, and where most of the social interaction will take place. The morphology of this network has been designed taking on board the Madrid’s Northwestern nocturnal cool winds which have the potential to cool down any building. This network of spaces has been designed parametrically to assure its climatic performance.
Madrid’s material culture imbues this building. The complex is built with the grey —sandstone and limestone— material culture of its southern paramos. This massive and monolithic building is assembled with prefab concrete panels —dry-assemblage— casted with grey arids coming from Madrid’s southern steppes. This same materiality is extended to the concrete blocks of the ground floor facade and the network of patios, corridors and social condensers. This material honesty is reinforced by our interest in maintenance architecture, designing prefab panels with horizontal trays which address weathering and conservation.
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