100 Houses in Aluche

Economy + Efficiency + Beauty.
The plot and the programme of needs on which this architectural proposal is based establish very defined limits that require an accurate and rigorous response. The proposed project is strict in its development, but offers some unexpected elements that give the building a powerful and attractive identity.

On a precise geometric support, a housing puzzle has been composed in which each and every one of the pieces is valuable. Each one of them is a good house, composed by pieces of adequate size and surface and a system of strictly organized functional relations. The block, with a hundred dwellings set in only six vertical cores, achieves an optimal ratio between buildable and useful surface avoiding in any case renouncing double orientation and crossed ventilation.

But besides these values, which are directly translated into the rationality of the construction and the economy of the work, the project enjoys other elements that multiply the value of the building. Unlike what is usual in small blocks like this one, the courtyard is a tree-lined place, visually attractive, sufficiently sunny in winter and humid and ventilated in summer. And on the roof, a platform for collective use offers privileged views over the surrounding landscape. Its facades, ordered and expressive, compose a powerful and attractive image. The building's strategy, focused on rationality and efficiency, has been accredited by BREEAM, the sustainable construction certificate.

Program Organization + Surfaces.
The strictly modulated geometry of the floor plan guarantees adequate surface standards and various furnishing possibilities in all parts of the house. Thus, each and every one of the bedrooms of all the houses allows a doble-bed room, two complete bathrooms, one of them en-suite in the master bedroom, all the kitchens allow in their furnishing a space for a breakfast table, and all the living rooms are well over 20 m2. This exact geometry also allows for a simple and economical structure that guarantees a garage without any footsteps of optimum use.

The compact volume of the building incorporates, from bottom to top, a series of decisions that clearly improve the performance of a conventional block of this size.
The garage floors, organized in half levels, guarantee a sufficient section of land for landscaping and planting trees on the ground floor. The access floor to the portals is depressed with respect to the street level, so that the ground floor homes behave in reality like first floor homes with respect to the patio.

The one hundred homes are organised in a ring and their daytime areas look alternately outwards on their longer sides and, onto the tree-lined courtyard on their shorter sides. In this way, the houses that face the interior are 30 metres apart. The rooftop houses a swimming pool with a solarium and a shaded playground and barbecue area with extraordinary views of the Casa de Campo and the Sierra de Madrid.