Blanca Lleó – Social Housing

Dutch architects MVRDV in collaboration with Madrid architect Blanca Lleó have
completed a social housing project in Madrid, Spain.
The large block is divided into thirty smaller, staggered blocks of apartments,
creating communal patios throughout the building and allowing air and light to
penetrate between the homes.
In Madrid-Sanchinarro the first residents received the keys to their apartments in
the just completed Celosia building. Jacob van Rijs of MVRDV and Blanca Lleó
have completed the social housing block near the Mirador Building, which is an
earlier collaboration. The perforated block of Celosia assembles 146 apartments,
communal outside areas throughout the building, and parking and commercial
program in the plinth. The total floor area is 21,550m2. With a construction cost
of 12,6 million Euro the apartments can be sold for affordable prizes. The city
block is opened and allows wind and light to enter the building, offering vistas
and outside spaces contrasting the surrounding area. The client is EMVS, the
public housing corporation of the city of Madrid.
The given volume of the city block was divided into 30 small blocks of
apartments. These blocks are positioned in a checkerboard pattern next to and
on top of each other, leaving wide openings for communal patios throughout the
building. 146 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments are all accessed via
these communal spaces. Most apartments offer additional private outdoor space
in the shape of a loggia right behind the front door. Inhabitants have the
possibility to gather in the communal high-rise patios which offer views towards
the city and the mountains and provide natural ventilation in summer. Opening
the front doors connects the private outdoor areas to the communal area.
The façade is made of coated concrete which was from the ground floor up
constructed in complete mould system, an efficient and clean way to cast
concrete, keeping the construction cost to a minimum; an important asset for
this social housing project. The polyurethane coating allows the façade to
shimmer and reflect depending on the light condition.

Froslilos Building, Berlin

It was winning the European 2 competition in 1991 with their design for a
housing block in Berlin that prompted Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de
Vries to set up MVRDV. In the space of six years the office has grown to its
present complement of thirteen permanent designers. In the structural limitation
of the silo lies the solution for the intervention. Making big openings in the
concrete rings of the silo is difficult. If apartments were to be situated inside the
silos, this would mean that in areas where views count, the apartments would be
directed inwards, destroying the most exciting aspect of its present state: its
emptiness. By flipping the projected floors inside out, the problem is eliminated.
Maximum views are possible and maximum flexibility can be achieved by placing
all obstructing elements inside the silo. Lifts, stairs, pipes and ducts turn the silo
interior into a ‘super shaft’.