The design studio begins with a question: how to live La Castellana, one of Madrid's main axes, especially after 2020. This question is approached with three design proposals; all of which strive to be urban architecture, serving both La Castellana and Madrid as a whole.
Through an initial short exercise, three pieces of urban furniture are located at San Juan de la Cruz Fountain. Using the favourable atmosphere surrounding the fountain, they recover a small portion of green space next to the fountain, currently unused, and designate it for public use.
The second exercise focuses on the extension of the Bankunion building by Corrales and Molezun – one of Madrid’s contemporary masterpieces located between La Castellana and Serrano - by changing its current office function to that of housing. Bankunion is placed perpendicularly to La Castellana and the extension is designed to follow this same directionality to connect La Castellana, Serrano, and a series of other urban spaces. The extension aims to have its own identity, while preserving and respectfully coexisting with Bankunion’s identity.
With the help of a smaller intervention, a kiosk, the proposal aims to create an urban tissue integrated by La Castellana's promenade, a small square, a patio below the Bankunion, an inner street, a large terrace and Serrano. This is further supported by a series of productive spaces strategically placed to benefit from the flow of people travelling between La Castellana and Serrano. This urban and productive tissue created by the the extension and kiosk working in tandem, will effectively benefit both the new houses and the city beyond.