Winning Proposal for social dwellings in new District Heating, Madrid (Spain).

N+10 architects

As an example of research through design, this is a winning proposal for an open competition for social dwellings in Madrid (Spain). The EMVS (Municipal Housing Association in Madrid) has already accepted the preliminary project, thus its construction should start in 2013. Instead of the typical massive volume of flats with a single orientation, here the dwellings enjoy multiple orientations within an open building. The designed framework allows for both individual and collective spaces that graduate privacy and scales. Multiple sized hollows enlighten the building by making it more airy, allowing for ventilation and the connection of interior and exterior public spaces. These voids, together with the multipurpose terrace on top (instead of the traditional penthouses), make it up for the public ground subtracted to the park in which the building settles. The permeability between the building and the park works at different levels: On the one hand, large community voids and individual throughout spaces allows for visuals and ventilation between the block and landscape. On the other hand, the vegetation in common and individual terraces links and relates the building with the surrounding vegetation. Thus, the buildings characteristic open spaces bring in the park that provides the neighborhoods unique open space within this part of the city.

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Winning Proposal for social dwellings in new District Heating, Madrid (Spain). N+10 architects

The projects diversity of spaces is controlled by a double modulation: The first modulation -transverse to the long facades- regulates every 2.50 m. the dwellings, the underground floors and the elevation. Thus, depending on the residential program, dwellings occupy a variable number of modules. Furthermore those modules can be swapped resulting in a wide variety of solutions, helped by an intermediate space that plays a variable role in, out or through the apartments. The second modulation groups different uses and spaces along longitudinal strips. The core one provides access to the dwellings, which are themselves arranged in parallel strips to the exterior. The innermost area is reserved for storage spaces and service rooms that give a privacy cushion to the dwellings and leave them free of downpipes, thus gaining flexibility as flat surfaces. The multiple circulation spaces provide extra flexibility and continuity, joyfully sweeping the apartments all around. Last but not least, the outer living areas enjoy the best conditions of ventilation and sunlight.

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