Social Housing in Valleca´s Eco-boulevard | Olalquiaga Arquitectos

The housing development in Vallecas is the main urban planning development in Madrid today. It is almost completely organised in a homogenous pattern of closed square blocks of 75 meters a side. The plot for the competition occupies three thirds of such a block. In the report accompanying the project submitted to the competition we stated: No to the completely closed block (A) Yes to an open and fractured block (B) that allows for: - the search for sunlight through open spaces - different sized spaces with variable heights - interior and exterior perspectives that provide diverse, crossed and changing views - diagonals that change with the light and allow diverse approaches and quiet spaces The building has 163 one-bedroom apartments, two commercial spaces and parking space. There are five floors above-ground and two underground floors. The interior part of the plot has been left free of any underground construction in order to plant a great number of trees that will create a pleasant indoor ambiance. The building is distributed in 4 blocs with a central corridor serving as access to the apartments. Instead of a uniform and monotonous corridor, probably poorly lit and ventilated, we propose, through subtraction and substitution of habitable cells, its widening in some parts as well as the liberating of some habitable modules, in order to achieve greater diversity, the entrance of more natural light and views.