The modern city was based on planning, which sought to anticipate changes and literally plan – through rules and ordinances – how the city would grow. Today, in the neoliberal city, growth is not planned but regulated. Opportunities, such as those used by this project, appear in the contradiction between both models, where programmatic ambiguity allows testing uses outside the norm.
T he Astygi building, in the Julián Camarillo Industrial Estate, is an interesting infrastructure at the city
scale. Inside, industrial spaces, homes, offices, coffee shops coexist along with a circulation network articulated
GeometrIc loft
iGnacio hornillosCandidato a doctor, ETsa Madrid, España
by a helical ramp that allows access from the −3 floor to the roof. However, the mixed value of its existing program is not included in current regulations, since these became obsolete after the building was built in 1970 in the middle of the industrial district of Simancas.
The growth of the city has generated a demand for housing in areas that were formerly for exclusive use and a critical repositioning is required to respond to the needs of a changing neighborhood. Given this fact, the project avoids any official notification to the City Council. The project is not carried out with them, nor are they notified of the change in activity, entrusting a construction company with the execution of a free-plan distribution where geometric volumes organize the use of space in an ambiguous way, without an apparent hierarchy. In this way, the intervention is intended to be harmless before the law, allowing the tenant to make use of the industrial space in a free manner and without more conditions than those that geometry, color, and light impose on the place.
The strategy consists of the introduction of individual elements capable of dividing and generating passing and diagonal views. It is about establishing geometric laws that give meaning to this occupation and organize a program that can be residential, industrial or commercial. Circles, squares, and triangles are arranged to delimit and characterize a mixed space bathed by a 25-meter long window. Both the elements of greater privacy and those of more public use are anchored and organized to the pre-existing elements through essential geometries that solve the technical problems.
The use of color is a reminiscence of Sol LeWitt’s color operations. This referential base, agreed with the client (interested in contemporary art), serves as a theoretical framework to articulate an exhibition
itinerary. The color arrangement in the interior facade and in the programmatic objects gives expression to the volumes in front of the walls that are left bare for the property’s collection of large-format paintings.
Finally, the possibility of introducing cars on a third floor is highly unusual. The Astygi building allows it. In the periphery, the use of the car is conceived as fundamental. Loading and unloading of materials, art, utensils, and food are done comfortably through a large mechanized sliding door. The concept of the contemporary city of the modern movement is resumed as a nostalgic stimulus, responding to a functional need and taking the opportunity to incorporate the ‘car’ object into space. In this sense, a charging point for an electric car has been prepared in the access, inviting the client to update it as long as it can contribute to sustainable mobility. ARQ
Arquitectos / Architects: Ignacio HornillosColaboradores / Contributors: Manuel Torrejón, Alberto García, José María RuedaUbicación / Location: Calle San Romualdo 26, Madrid, EspañaConstrucción / Construction: Vistto Estudio S.L.Instalación eléctrica / Electrical installation: InstarealOtras especialidades / Other specialties: Cortizo (carpintería de aluminio) / (aluminum carpentry), Saisho Art (arte) / (art)
Iluminación / Lighting design: Atrás Luz Iluminación Superficie construida / Built area: 166 m2Año de proyecto / Project year: 2018Año de construcción / Construction year: 2019Fotografía / Photography: Asier Rua, Fernando Alda
Architect, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 2010. Magíster en Arquitectura, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 2012. He has studied at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Sevilla (2003-2004), at the Illinois Institute of Technology of Chicago (2007 -2008), at Domus Academy in Milan (2011) and at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile as a guest researcher (2014-2016). He has taught in Chile (UDD and aiEP) and Spain (EtsaM and Instituto Europeo de Diseño). His work has been exhibited in Chicago, Madrid, Valencia, Milan, Venice and Santiago, Chile, obtaining different awards, noting a recognition by Casabella magazine (number 832), as one of the world’s most relevant architects “under 30.” He is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Architectural Projects of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (EtsaM) where he develops his doctoral thesis under the advice of Jesús Bermejo and Federico Soriano.
