ISRAEL ALBA
architecture can
140 + 140 SOCIAL-HOUSING APARTMENTS

The arrangement of the buildings on the site essentially responds to one criterion: the quest for south-facing properties to optimise the sun exposure and bioclimatic performance of the complex. This has led us to opt for linear open blocks with north-south orientation (night zone/day zone) which comply with the urban regulations on site layout, and to avoid less favourable east-west orientations. This decision allows us to propose flats with efficient cross ventilation. Along the length of the south façade, an intermediate space has been established between the interior and exterior regulated by extractable sun blinds which we call the “thermal mattresses”, producing a bioclimatic ventilation chamber which buffers the influence of the sun heat bearing down on the building. The horizontal support plane of these blocks establishes the connection with the public space which, on permeating through our plot, softens, becomes a smooth garden, marking the contact of the buildings with the ground through a series of undulating “green points”. The city is a constant, a single whole. The limits become fuzzy and the relational conditions between the private and public are reproduced. The suggested solution aims to avoid the great monolithic blocks that in so many cases dehumanise the city, in order to achieve a more laid-back image. This is town planning conceived for and to a human scale.

typology: Public / Housing location: Alcorcón, Madrid area: 32.280 m² status: in progress 2008 client: IVIMA (Instituto de la Vivienda de Madrid) TEAM:
principal architect: Israel Alba
associated architect: Mónica Domínguez
architects: Remedios Cruz, Andrés Infantes, Reyes León, Samir M´hamdi, Zina Petrikova, Ines Steuber, Javier Traver, José Luis Teixera, Jorge Valseca
computer graphics: NEOGRAMA
engineering consulting: María Concepción Pérez Gutiérrez
building services consulting: Maproing, S.L. (Mario Abajo)

Alcorcón, Madrid
1st PRIZE 20/05/2007