Impluvium is a project conceived as a community center for the Carabanchel neighbourhood, designed to promote community life, learning, and awareness around food. The building hosts activities such as basketball, dance, educational workshops, cooking, and urban gardening, developed in collaboration with the neighborhood information point.

This information point functions as a switchboard connecting small food workers in Carabanchel with Mercamadrid, strengthening the local economy and promoting more responsible consumption. Through cooking workshops, food education, and gardening, the center seeks to make the entire process of food production, transformation, and consumption visible.

The project is organized around a large central courtyard, the “impluvium,” which acts as the spatial, social, and climatic axis of the building. This void articulates all the rooms, favoring the visual relationship between floors and becoming the heart of the center. Rainwater is collected through it and reused in the cultivation systems and in the general operation of the building.

The hydroponic towers are located on the third floor, fed by water collected in the impluvium. The crops are sent down to the second floor for processing and then on to the kitchen on the first floor. From there, the food is distributed to the soup kitchen on the ground floor or the restaurant on the third floor, completing the production cycle within the building.

In this way, Impluvium is conceived as an open and connected organism, where architecture, production, and community are articulated around the central courtyard, reinforcing the collective identity of the neighbourhood.