[Photograph copyright Javier Azurmendi | Click images for larger views.]
This renovated Concrete Factory in east-northeast Madrid is in a location increasingly surrounded by office buildings. Rather than move the working factory, the owners enlisted Lorenzo Alonso Arquitectos (Lorenzo Alonso, Jose Luis Cerezo, Enrique García) to help integrate the industrial building into its changing context.
[Photograph copyright Javier Azurmendi]
At its most basic level, the factory shifted from a surface-collection system to a silo-based system; or to put it another way, from horizontal to vertical, from suburban to urban in form and character. By keeping the factory in its current location, truck trips are reduced for construction projects in the city, relative to moving the factory further afield. Truck trips are also reduced from the increased storage capacity of the silos. Another benefit of the silo system, combined with the wrapper designed by the architects, is a reduction in dust emissions and noise; as the architects put it, the skin acts as a filter.
[Photograph copyright Javier Azurmendi]
The skin is the most striking aspect of the architectural intervention, although the choice to round the corners seems appropriate for this cladding, as the breaks or interruptions that come with corners are abolished in favor of an apparently continuous wrapper. The skin is reminiscent of a toned-down Sauerbruch Hutton; its various blue, translucent, and clear vertical bands in a random composition give the impression that anything could be behind the glass. Minus the truck docks and blank facades at grade, one may think offices are inside; the horizontal bands between the glass give the impression that floors are found behind the facade.
[Photograph copyright Javier Azurmendi]
But the glass also does something inside, in effect lightening the large spaces that are filled with structure, access walkways, and other functional components. These photos may show the interior free of trucks and the materials that make the building a concrete factory, but it's clear that the quality of space is high for an industrial structure. Kudos to the architects for making a well-integrated urban statement without forgetting about the people who work inside day after day.
[Floor plan]
[Building section]