On the Alcalá street side, the facade is orderly, in keeping with Madrid's solid-span tradition and with large, high-performance sliding and elevating windows. Meanwhile, on the Francisca Moreno façade, the building is set back in a courtyard open to the street with glazed panels, which maximizes the luminosity in the apartments and enhances the effects of nuances, trompe l'oeil, and depth.
Description of project by De Lapuerta + Campo Arquitectos
A new building in the Barrio de Salamanca must study the existing ones, respect them, frame them. But, above all, improve them.
It was about designing a building giving two very different streets, on one side, Alcalá street and on the other hand Francisca Moreno Street. All homes had to be the best.
On Alcala Street the facade is repetitive, compliant with the window rhythm tradition of Madrid. The windows are large, high-rise sliding doors that are quite sophisticated in terms of their isolation and ease of opening, which hide the frame from the outside, giving the sensation of a glass that slides over the stone facade.
Inside, they have a balcony, re-edition of the Madrid balcony with locks and wooden handrails. In facade of Francisca Moreno the building is set back in a courtyard open to the street of glazed cloths, a sculpted “geode” that maximizes the luminosity in the houses and enhances the effects of nuances, and depth. This makes a contrast between the experience of Alcala Street and Francisca Moreno Street. All homes, all rooms, are exterior ... the street is now sunnier, brighter.
The colors and reflections of the glasses are not capricious. Those located on the south façade are set back and protected from direct summer sun, while those located north look outwards, looking for light.
Curved glass follows the tradition of bow windows that managed to maximize space and natural light inside and on the upper facades exposed to the west, a double skin of glass slats with solar control is raised, allowing views of the roofs from Madrid.
The facade is then a very careful garden, with vegetation chosen to provide color throughout the year, a fountain, residential areas, adult trees planted as “specimens” of deciduous that protect from the sun in summer, nuances views, and allow the sun in winter.
