Carabanchel Social Housing
The enormous buildable area of the plot on which this residential complex is located and the obligation of the urban planning regulations to build on its perimeter leave the project with little room for volumetric freedom. The initial objective of the project consisted, in this sense, of arranging the different pieces in order to avoid an oppressive construction and to free up the maximum surface area at ground level to allow for the planting of large trees.
A long, taut piece is situated on the alignment with the street and contains dwellings accessed from a gallery. Perpendicular to this elongated piece are taller and shorter bodies, which house dwellings of a different type, with a vertical communications nucleus every two dwellings. A third element, much lower, is located inside the plot, and underneath it is the car park.
The housing unit with which the complex is built is very unique, very small and intended for young people to rent with an option to buy. The dwellings, of which there are three different types, use movable partitions that allow some of the living areas to be separated or joined, minimising circulation spaces and concentrating the maximum surface area in the living room and providing a visual link between the kitchen and dining room.
Sustainability criteria dictate the way in which the façades open up to the light and are protected from the sun. The whole is wrapped in a 'wallpaper' of equal openings that paradoxically betrays the flexibility of the interior of the dwellings. The continuous façades, without expressive elements that stand out, are protected by sliding shutters that give the building a changing expression.
