Located in the Madrid neighborhood of Adelfas, in the southern edge of the Retiro district, close to the stations of Atocha and Méndez Álvaro, the construction of the project was commissioned after a competition called by Acciona Inmobiliaria. The residential development includes 98 apartments, initially for rent.

The building is a completely abstract piece when seen from the outside, lined up as it is with the M-30 ringroad. The housing block rises as an urban border – next to the ringroad and the A3 highway –, in an area where the surrounding traffic is very intense. This was one of the key factors that determined the decision to design an exact, bold volume; an elemental white object that, blurring all details, would not alter the instant, fast, and fleeting image one grasps of the building. The facades are wrapped in white corrugated metallic sheet, and are enhanced, as planned, by the nuances that the rich and clear light of Madrid gives when reflected on the city’s buildings.

On the basis that both the housing units and way they are arranged into groups demand a careful attention to the domestic scale, the project addresses this significant but attractive contradiction by exploring and modifying the area’s typical closed block with interior courtyards. Here the apartments are distributed in two buildings set at different alignments, separated by an interior street or ‘crack’ that brings in sunlight and ventilation, improving the passive conditions in all the dwellings. This efficient crack also becomes the shared public space of access and for interaction among residents, as can be seen in the building’s section. When accessing from the interior public plaza, protected from traffic, neighbors pass under the narrow block and reach the communal garden. The use of wood in this space guarantees the domestic and friendly character the scale asks for, creating a contrast with the industrial and standard finishes of the exterior facades.

Designed to reduce energy needs to a minimum, the project offers a pioneering approach to issues like water management, energy of materials, and carbon dioxide emissions derived from transport on site. The new housing ensemble also helps to improve biodiversity in the area by analyzing, studying, and planting new vegetation.