Housing Building in Carabanchel / Amann-Canovas-Maruri

Architects: Amann-Canovas-Maruri – Atxu Amann, Andrés Cánovas, Nicolás Maruri
Location: Avenida de la Peseta, Carabanchel, Madrid, Spain
Client: EMVS (Department of housing, Madrid Council Government)
Site area: 4441.33 sqm
Built up area: 13419,81 sqm (including parking areas)
Completed year: May 2009
Costs: 6.957.818 €
Colaborators: Gonzalo Pardo Díaz, Beatriz Amann Vargas, Ana Arriero Cano, Ignacio Díaz González, Sara de la Fuente Sanz, Susana Velasco Sánchez, Cristina Parreño Alonso, Ana López, Rafael Marcos, Carlos Ríos, Rafael Palomares, Javier Gutiérrez
Photographs: Miguel de Guzmán, David Frutos

Open to the Four Winds

The proposal is not built from the review of the traditional housing block but from the attributes of the slab of minimum width perforated with through holes.

This situation of minimum bandwidth allows an inner space of considerable size, a public space in the heart of the project, a space that is half open and connected to the whole sprawl, boldly assuming an ambiguous condition, exterior and interior at the same time.

The flat is a house with a yard. This small house garden is linked to the interior of the block, the street and the living room. The yard is a sunny place in the winter and cool place in the summer. With cross views of the inside and outside of the block, the garden and the street, light and shadow.

The clustering of dwellings is obtained from mechanical necessities. The interior is made with integrated furniture; versatile space with openings available in the wall. The exterior body is constructed of metal, therefore acts as a ventilated façade. The building is an ordered set of car bodies whose metallic colours are the choice for users.