Housing Villaverde

Villaverde3_DCA © Roland Halbe
Villaverde_DCA © Roland Halbe
Villaverde2_DCA © Roland Halbe
Cross-section and partial facade drawing
Floor plan level 0
Cross-section
Housing Villaverde, Madrid, 2000–05 Read more 1/9Villaverde3_DCA © Roland Halbe

This new social housing project was commissioned by the Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda (municipal housing company) in the Villaverde district in southern Madrid. Located on a prominent boulevard on a site previously occupied by a factory, the project was part of a wider regeneration scheme for the area that included several apartment buildings by different architects, all with the same brief. The brief for the individual buildings was clearly defined: a U-shaped block, fifteen metres deep, nine storeys in height and capped with a pitched roof, all within a 2,000 square-metre footprint.

Housing Villaverde

This new social housing project was commissioned by the Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda (municipal housing company) in the Villaverde district in southern Madrid. Located on a prominent boulevard on a site previously occupied by a factory, the project was part of a wider regeneration scheme for the area that included several apartment buildings by different architects, all with the same brief. The brief for the individual buildings was clearly defined: a U-shaped block, fifteen metres deep, nine storeys in height and capped with a pitched roof, all within a 2,000 square-metre footprint.

The block contains 176 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. In contrast to some of the neighbouring buildings, which adopted symmetrical, double-pitched roofs, the design intention was to create a building in which the façade and the roof visually merge. A low, single pitch spans most of the block, while small secondary pitches bevel the building’s front edges, creating asymmetrical volumes that break with the traditional orthogonal cuboid. The reduced roof volume results in an increased habitable space.

The façades are fabricated in concrete that ranges in tone from earthy pink to rusts and ochres, creating a varied pattern across the surface of the building. Vertical windows punctuate the exterior with a rhythmic distribution. Every window is uniform in size and shape making no distinction between windows for living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens or even vertical circulation. Similarly, the elevation does not reveal the size of the individual apartments. Every window is set back into the façade creating a small balcony with a simple balustrade.

The building frames a public square to the east and overlooks a new park to the west. A slate-blue concrete portico accompanied by small areas of soft landscaping runs around the perimeter of the square, marking the threshold between public and private and incorporating entrances to each of the seven circulation staircases.

Date:
2000-2005
Gross floor area:
11,698  m²
Client:
Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda
Architect:
David Chipperfield Architects, London
Project architects:
Kevin Carmody, Andy Groarke
Associate architect:
Matias Manuel Santolaya Heredero & José Maria Fernández Ísla Arquitectos
Structural engineer:
Ingenieros de CC. CC. y PP
Services engineer:
Santiago Sanz, Emilio Fernández Román
Quantity surveyor:
Juan F. Serrano Quismondo
Photography:
Roland Halbe
Sketch:
David Chipperfield