Description

Our proposal tries to create an oasis in one of the most densely built and trafficked areas in Madrid. For this, we have distilled little by little, series of ideas that come from materializing the given program with the best possible housing that seeks energy efficiency and comfort and finally incorporates an important component of sustainability that also partially reconnects these homes with nature, creating a true integration of the vegetation with the most representative areas of each home, which improves in a sustainable way the micro bioclimatic conditions, improving the quality of air, providing freshness and an odor that connects us with our interior animal.

The common areas have been specially taken care of in our design, with a little imagination, achieving to offer a wide amount of possibilities of leisure to its users, which culminate with the “advance” proposal that even includes making a pool on deck with great views of Madrid.

Who saves a man, saves the world.

It is exemplary, the story of the man who, after high tides, was throwing fish back into the sea; he was asked: “Why are you doing it, good man? Do you not realize that there are thousands of fish and that your work is small?“, he, throwing the one he had in his hands into the sea, answered, “This one will live”.

Like that man, in our design, we are trying to create a small oasis in the form of buildings, which arouse the curiosity and are enjoyed and fully lived by their users and of which our customers and staff can feel proud of.

Description

The idea is initiated by the limitations of the regulations, 75% of the facade had to be aligned with the site line, so there was only 25% facade line to play with. That was when the first gesture was drawn, a curved junction between two aligned facades. Absurd? If the regulation had forced a 100% alignment, we would not be talking about Terrazas del Lago and if it gave a degree of freedom, surely the project would have been riskier and maybe it would not have seen the light. The next movement is caused by the location and orientation of the site. The plot has a huge park in its southern side. Two powerful magnetic poles that determine the shape of the building are added to this orientation.

Another factor that intervened was the deep financial crisis in which we were sunk in Spain. In that moment, the focus of the real estate product had completely changed and the concept of housing was redefined to convince the few buyers in the market who were willing to invest in a house.

The answer to these conditions was to orient the building towards the large park in front of it and designing for most of the houses to have huge terraces with unparalleled views. The compositional vector gives the building a coastal aspect, almost nautical, but is like buildings that have sea views, Terrazas del Lago grew under the influence of a very similar pole of attraction.

For formal consistency, the curve of the corner is transferred to the successive terraces, creating, along with a slight inclination of the breastplate, its smoothest and most organic finish.

Description

This project is the first of our most unique projects, the most “Morph”. This project was the definitive breaking of the shell for me. Everyone has always told us to be discreet, not to screw up, not to complicate our life, not to be naive, that things are the way they are and we end up confined in an invisible cage willingly, we remain inside because we think we are not worthy of getting out, and those are our boundaries and one day you decide to take a risk and cross the imaginary line that had kept you prisoner and without any power but fear.

Since I took this building´s terraces sketch to Jose Luis, with all doubts and insecurity in the world he supported the idea and since then I have never taken a step back. I realized dreams are more real than the routine because everyone has dreams and if you have determination, everyone will embrace your dreams and make them their own.

In a more prosaically way, the project speaks for itself. The plot has a large number of protected trees that used to “bother” while designing. Most of the time big ideas surge from a difficulty that pulls us out of our comfort zone and forces us to make something different. Instead of segregating the building clogging the free space, like a judo fighter, we used the enemies force in our favor, taking the footprint of the trees as a “leitmotif” to generate big terraces facing towards the green area of the plot. The idea is sublimated in the exempt block that was assigned in phase 2 of the promotion that, even has a tree inside of the footprint itself. The north facade of the promotion was in limbo for over a year, due to the difficulty of creating something coherent with the south curved facade. The final design is similar to the interior facade, thanks to the customers who encouraged us to make a daring design that would try to emulate the level of the star facade.

Description

This project starts from the base of our series of illusory fragmented works, that achieve light and dynamic buildings... and that do not intend to be an accommodating repetition, but an evolution of a proven formula. The different volumes are even more convincing than those in our previous works, and the composition they offer is more varied and daring.

Urbanization has taken an important role from the very first moment we began the project, and it implements elements of parametric geometry combined with rectilinear units that, nevertheless, together form an attractive and singular organic whole. It is an embryonic state of the project but you can already guess the enormous variety that these pieces can give, from a bench to a luminary like the ones Michael Jackson stepped on in the Billie Jean video.

The volumes have been generated from seeking to achieve the most open spaces possible and the highest quality in each home. When creating the south block, which is divided in two separated blocks with diaphanous floor plans, with the chosen layout, the blocks with little corners and nooks, the enclosed common and linear spaces were avoided.