Dutch architects MVRDV in collaboration with Madrid architect Blanca Lleó have completed a social housing project in Madrid, Spain.
The large block is divided into thirty smaller, staggered blocks of apartments, creating communal patios throughout the building and allowing air and light to penetrate between the homes.
The building includes 146 apartments, most of which have loggias.
The facade is made of concrete coated in polyurethane.
Photographs are © Ricardo Espinosa and are used with permission.
The following information is from MVRDV:
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MVRDV with Blanca Lleó complete Celosia Residence, Madrid
In Madrid-Sanchinarro the first residents received the keys to their apartments in the just completed Celosia building. Jacob van Rijs of MVRDV and Blanca Lleó have completed the social housing block near the Mirador Building, which is an earlier collaboration. The perforated block of Celosia assembles 146 apartments, communal outside areas throughout the building, and parking and commercial program in the plinth. The total floor area is 21,550m2. With a construction cost of 12,6 million Euro the apartments can be sold for affordable prizes. The city block is opened and allows wind and light to enter the building, offering vistas and outside spaces contrasting the surrounding area. The client is EMVS, the public housing corporation of the city of Madrid.
The given volume of the city block was divided into 30 small blocks of apartments. These blocks are positioned in a checkerboard pattern next to and on top of each other, leaving wide openings for communal patios throughout the building. 146 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments are all accessed via these communal spaces. Most apartments offer additional private outdoor space in the shape of a loggia right behind the front door. Inhabitants have the possibility to gather in the communal high-rise patios which offer views towards the city and the mountains and provide natural ventilation in summer. Opening the front doors connects the private outdoor areas to the communal area.
The façade is made of coated concrete which was from the ground floor up constructed in complete mould system, an efficient and clean way to cast concrete, keeping the construction cost to a minimum; an important asset for this social housing project. The polyurethane coating allows the façade to shimmer and reflect depending on the light condition.
All windows are floor to ceiling height and can be shielded from the sun. Each apartment has the possibility of cross ventilation through two or three facades and enjoys views through the building and to the surrounding. A system of power efficient boilers is used in the building; solar panels on the roof heat water reducing energy consumption further. Underneath the building a parking garage on two levels provides 165 parking spaces. The ground floor offers room for 6 individual retail units.
The nearby Mirador building which was completed by MVRDV and Blanca Lleó in 2005 also discusses the traditional building block by putting it vertical. The Celosia building is horizontally arranged around the interior court but opposes the generic introverted architecture in the area by bringing light and communal space into the building allowing a perhaps more extraverted Spanish lifestyle as every apartment opens up to a small plaza.
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Posted by Rose Etherington
July 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
The building seems like a blank canvas, i could see the communal spaces becoming more green if the residents take some initiative.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
wow!
July 16th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I want to like this building, as there are some interesting forms and patterns (though not innovative), but it doesn’t do anything for me.
All that gray concrete, cold and uninviting courtyards and terraces, and all the windows being the same size and shape, suggest social housing, which is very unfortunate. Lack of character and individuality has plague social housing for the past 40 years, and this one is just continuing the stigma of housing for the less fortunate.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I agree that the aesthetics of the building do not excite me, but I can appreciate the lighting quality from the interior courtyard space. Thankfully there is a generous amount of light permeating through the voids.
I like the image where the building frames the Mirador apartments in the background.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
MVRDV is emerging with renewed confidence, taking advantage of the financial crisis to vault ahead of longtime rivals in inarchitecture and grab market share in mortgages and retail banking. The chief executive, has cemented his status as one of America’s most powerful and outspoken bankers. And after acquiring the retail block last fall, revenue from its new branches is starting to pad its earnings.
Even so, its consumer lending businesses have been battered by the recession. MVRDV will set aside another $2 billion this quarter to cover future losses, bringing the total amount of money it has socked away to more than $30 billion. Credit card charge-offs have doubled from a year ago, to more than 10 percent of all loans, and will probably wipe out profits in both this year and next. Mortgage and home equity losses continued to climb, though there are some tentative signs that fewer borrowers are falling behind on the payments.
“We don’t know if it is going to sustain itself, but it could have good implications that we are getting nearer to the end,” said MVRDV’s chief financial officer, during a conference call with analysts on Thursday. Still, he cautioned the economy remains weak and that job losses keep rising; it could be at least two more quarters before the bank stops adding to reserves.
Nevertheless, this is an incredible project – the balcony spaces pure bliss!!
July 16th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
i agree with neuhaus 100%. there is nothing humanistic about that environment.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
dutch quality! just like the GOUDA!
BASIC and GOOD!
July 16th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
I love the fearless use of the mass.
About humanization, doesn’t always mean green or playgrounds. The fact that every few homes have some intersticial semipublic space helps to do the trick, I’d say.
I liked it
July 16th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
maybe color alone does do not necessarily make a building more “friendly” but why so much color in the Mirador building and so little in this one? Especially when we all understand the public housing/modern architecture stigma out there
July 16th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
.
nice object to watch, a punishment to live into it.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
WHAT?! Jeez, I’d like to see them design a prison!
July 16th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
MVRDV does it again!! If I’m not mistaken, is that not another MVRDV housing block in the distance?
July 16th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
And I like brutalism!
July 16th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Am very surprised to learn of MVRDV’s heavy involvement in American financial problems. Clearly ground breaking news regarding architecture’s contingencies. Thoughts RE: meaning in form issues vis a vis materiality? Interesting to consider Maas’ turn to concrete architecture while simultaneously engaging brick and mortar banking.
Overall very interesting project and discussion.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Daniel Brown – your comment is a prison.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Another monster from MVRDV!
July 16th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
rad!
July 16th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
it’s a pity that mvrdv don’t allow inhabitants to appropriate the collective spaces…(at least it’s totally forbidden in the silo of Amsterdam). It’d stay dead and virtual.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I think were it simply white-washed it would like 10 times better.
July 16th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
humane prison aesthetic.
rikers island could benefit with this kind of sensitivity.
the rest of us unencarcerated, not so much.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:00 am
It does look very spartan.. I think they were aiming for a certain aesthetic with the finishes but the end result unfortunately echoes the brutal precast concrete social housing blocks from decades gone by. Hopefully it’ll be softened with occupation. I do like the staggered block arrangements and generous outdoor spaces.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:33 am
The only decent MVRDV project seems to be social housing. Then they don’t get all over the top with gimmick like shapes, but design simple geometric volumes with a more clean materiality.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:45 am
@Daniel Brown
Couldn’t have said it better.
This building is operating under a middle-class delusion.
I don’t care about friendly.
Colour is nice, but it can’t save a bad project.
Light is a must.
This thing is poorly concieved and badly done. One small criticism: Who wants to look into everyone elses apartment and have everyone else look into yours. You get no light if you have the curtains drawn.
July 17th, 2009 at 3:18 am
It would be good to see plans, which might convince a few people that they have acheived quite amazing amounts of outdoor space.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:08 am
what is the rationale behind the uniform window treatment? does it means that the living room would have the same window as a bedroom/bathroom/kitchen
there must be some very strong reasons behind that
July 17th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Even on a sweltering August day, that’s one icy cold structure.
July 17th, 2009 at 7:51 am
loved it!!!
July 17th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Very efficent!
Remembers me a bit to Corbusiers concrete blocks. They looked great when they were new, but sadly turned a bit in a depressive ghetto inviroment.
Curious how it looks in 30 years!
July 17th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Remind you Le Corbusier tryed to do a similar project titled, Immeubelvillas… Machine Habitar, if MVRDV i aimingat then this is the case it looks like a machine to live in. Hope this should work. Curious that THERE IS NO SHOTS shown.
July 17th, 2009 at 9:55 am
will that polyurethane gloss deteriorate with time? it’ll look like a prison then, won’t it?
but there is something beautiful about the massing.
July 17th, 2009 at 11:11 am
i think the colour will appear automatically in form of big scale wall paintings and patio grafittis. this will ad a whole new layer to the project.
July 17th, 2009 at 11:24 am
brutal Dutch arrogance. simply awesome
July 17th, 2009 at 11:36 am
This buldings should be more bright and green – there is no pleasure to see them at all!
It’s a prison – I agree with ariaaria.
July 17th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Why have we suddenly gone back to the 60s. I mean, i know retro is in, but this project and Chipperfield’s city of justice make me wonder what the hell is going on. However much architects like talking about ‘massing’ and ’scale’ the truth is no one has EVER enjoyed living in bare concrete box.
July 17th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
again, this is a brilliant integration of outdoor spaces
within a closed building.
i always wondered, why other architects never really tried this.
MVRDV showed this kind of ‘breaking up’ a closed structure quite eloquently
before in the villa VPRO for broadcasting hilversum.
July 17th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
“The facade is made of concrete coated in polyurethane.”
To make it easier to wash off the blood stains and graffiti
July 17th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
i like living bare in concrete boxes, so there
July 17th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
This kind of design side-steps morality . . . the building looks like a gigantic, Mexican, truck-stop brothel. Of course, poor people have to live somewhere.
July 17th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
i think i need to visit mexico more often
July 18th, 2009 at 12:46 am
i want to like this building for my own reasons as-well but ultimately i feel this building pays zero attention to the people expected to inhabit the space. has it become acceptable to assume that residents of lower income property want to have communal spaces? has anyone ever lived with a lot of roomates? common spaces take on a new meaning. why not give the residents a stronger sense of ownership through architecture rather than the repeating the model for what is essentially a project. i doubt the inhabitants care about how the light hits the southwest wall during the vernal equinox in communal space #2. are architects punishing the people for something? lets get over ourselves and build something that matters
July 18th, 2009 at 3:39 am
Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the most important space of the building might be inside? Seeing as the whole motive behind the staggered blocks is to allow more light into the interior spaces it could be an idea to let us see inside?
Exterior is brutal but I like it.
July 18th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Love the design and the semi-public spaces. While I enjoy it’s simplistic nature, the repetitiveness of the finished concrete drowns the spaces. I would have liked to see them use different techniques in finishing the concrete to add interest to the spaces; such a few different patterns in the formwork.
July 18th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Some color, plants, clutter and people would vastly improve this space…it’d be great if they let people paint the facades of their own units, chain their bikes to the fences, put planters, tables and bbqs on the balconies…this place could offer some amazing social space. I’d love to see it occupied ten years hence.
July 19th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I think the building it’s too big. the concrete gives a very very cold sensation, it has some interesting forms, but sadly when you look at it you see only a big grey block with holes. And i don’t know why…. but when i looked it for the first time it made me feel sad….. mucho gris.
July 19th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
To the people criticizing the building as being unhumanistic or not allowing for individuality…. have you ever lived in an apartment building? Individuality is exactly that, what each resident brings to their own space.
That being said, the original renderings were very colorful, I am surprised to see it all gray.
July 20th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Lots of superficial interpretation of the building’s exterior character here.
This building is not radically different in aesthetic from typical private urban European housing built since the 50s. That is probably the idea. Rather than rubbing inhabitants’ noses in their social inequity with cute day-glo colours and the like, the building allows them the private pleasures of anonymity and uniformity. Most of us apartment dwellers don’t rely on our building`s exterior to lighten our mood or express our personal aspirations.
July 20th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Or, with plantings everywhere, I think this can be a really beautiful project.
July 21st, 2009 at 2:05 am
Vico, you say: “Most of us apartment dwellers don’t rely on our building`s exterior to lighten our mood or express our personal aspirations.”
For me, it isn’t about vanity or a pretty skin: the building form begs for exterior occupation and social interaction. The best apartment complexes encourage enriching neighborly relationships between the inhabitants, and the organization of this project is seemingly ideal for just that…except for its apparent monotonous sterility. It’s an easy fix, and I wonder if the inhabitants will be allowed to liven up the open outdoor spaces. I think it would dramatically improve the architecture if the people who live there were able to put their own imprint on the space, either with color, planters, furniture, whatever.
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
if i can see more green around the building or in the building will be much better!
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I wouldn’t say polycarbonated (shiny) concrete looks anything near sad in the spanish sun. And knowing average design and execution quality of appartment blocks in Spain (a lot of money is made by poor design), I think the word ‘prison’ couldn’t be more far of from the feeling the inhabitants will have with it.
I’m curious about the plans …
July 28th, 2009 at 11:18 am
social housing = prison
nice concept
July 28th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Does noone learn anything form mistakes of the past….ie. glasgow social housing…sheffields park hill!!
architects get off your high horse and start thinking about habitable spaces
July 28th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
I hope the grayness and minimalism of the building is intentional and that MVRDV is aiming to achieve something like Harzbergers did with the Central Beheer office building – less space for the designers imposed shapes and collors, more space for private initiative and so called bottom-up design. Well see what will happen.
Power to the people xD
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:39 am
human needs somthing more than gray concreet to live.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:28 pm
it’s look like NEW GHETTO…
October 30th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I am a not architect, but it is reckless beautifully
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 am
I am fan of MVRDV but the “new ghetto’” design is a sept down.