The Castelar Building by Rafael de La-Hoz Arderius and Gerardo Olivares, originally build between 1977 and 1983, was renovated by the author's son, Rafael de La-Hoz Castanys in 2011.
It presents some interesting features that make it unique among modern buildings in Madrid. Its davit structure clears the plan from pillars and services, and its double glass skin helps with climate control. The building connects to the street though a travertine plinth, and carved in it, a tall stone entrance hall iluminated from a large skylight above leads us inside.
Description of project by Rafael de La-Hoz Castanys
20 years after being built, the Castelar Building has required a reform to update its facilities, optimizing the use of offices, adapting at the same time to the regulations in force, basically the New Technical Building Code.
Due to its location within the Historic Complex of Madrid, and since the techniques used were absolutely innovative for its time, such as the use of glass as a climate control instrument or the unique structural approach (suspended, eccentric and davit type structure), the Castelar building is considered an outstanding work of Mr. Rafael de La-Hoz Arderius, Architecture Gold Medal in the year 2000.
The nucleus of vertical communications leaves its usual position in this type of towers to be placed outside and take the form of a davit to structurally suspend the built volume. The plan is thus free of pillars and services, and additionally the volume appears weightless as a glass prism floating on the basement body.
Innovatively, this volume is also covered with a double matt glass wall that, due to the counter-greenhouse effect, solves the curtain walls' insolation problems, accentuates the light transparency of the tower and contributes to its perception as a mass that does not weigh.