Housing on the M-30 Highway, Madrid
Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza- Type Housing Collective
- Material Ceramics Brick
- Date 1986 - 1989
- City Madrid
- Country Spain
- Photographer Paisajes Españoles Javier Azurmendi
This spiral-shaped beehive, commonly known as ‘the bullring,’ is counted among the most polemical projects of a mature and monumental Oíza, who performs as an eloquent and uninhibited master. The program of the relocation of more than three hundred shack-dwelling families to the edge of highway M-30 is tackled by means of one enormous form folding inward to protect itself from the mighty river of traffic. Ceramic and perforated by tiny holes, the highway facade emphasizes the linearity of the long curved block. The stepped duplex with dual orientation is a housing type that repeats itself with different variants, generating towards the interior a facade where the deep apertures left by alternating terraces dominate, and where decorative motifs and the colors selected produce a strident scenographic effect...