8, AVENIDA DE BURGOS BUILDING
1989. MADRID

The project for this building was carried out in 1986 and it was finished in 1989.


The plot is located in the northern area of Madrid and, more specifically, in the outskirts of the M-30 ring road. This plot is part of one of the numerous detail studies that were carried out in this area as a result of the new limits brought about by the opening of such road.
The distribution of volumes envisaged three plots surrounding the old church of the demolished Reparadoras Convent.

In these plots, three similar volumes were defined that corresponded to each of them, with 19 floors on the grade line and a surface of 14,000 m2 with development potential.

The access to each of the plots was done through a newly built road surrounding the church with entry and exit from the M-30.

Each volume was defined by two louvered shutters placed on top of each other, the bottom one corresponded to the ground and the first floors with a surface of 1,200 m2 each, and the top one corresponded to the remaining 17 floors on the grade line, with dimensions of 15 m x 45 m and a surface available for rent of 250 m2, which is equivalent to the useable surface of half an average floor.

In order to fulfill modular needs, a horizontal structure of modules of 0,90 m x 0,90 m was planned. According to the wishes of the client, this structure was built in reinforced concrete with lights of 5 m and gantries perpendicular to the longest facade.
The ground plan was designed by locating the group of lifts, the main staircase, the toilets and the installations rooms in the southern facade, opposite to the access of the building.

The emergency stairs were located in the eastern and western facades and at their centre stood the service lifts, fire dry columns and air extraction systems from the basements.

In the roof plan, in the lower level were located the rooms for the boilers and the pumps, the rooms for the lift machinery and the power generator, the cooling plants and the cleaning pod/gondola.

In the upper level were located the heat exchangers, the infrastructure for telecommunications, the cleaning gondola and the lightning conductor.

The planned modules of 0,90 m x 0,90 m in horizontal formed the net on which the following elements were coordinated: structure, facade, installations, compartmentalisations, floors, ceilings, etc.

The floor was fitted with canalisations that could be fully checked, these were placed every 90 cm and matched with the modular net, so that this group of canalisations also matched with the compartmentalisation planned, which included the abovementioned canalisations every 0,90 and, in turn, matched with the distribution and modules of the ceilings.

Regarding the control of the installations, a technical floor of 0,90 x 0,90 m was introduced. The ceilings were made of aluminum sheet and, in order to achieve greater flexibility, given the quantity of elements involved, normal and emergency lights were placed, as well as smoke detectors, PA systems, impulse and return grids, air-conditioning system, automatic sprinklers for fire extinguishing, signs, etc. Likewise, two modules were established: 0,90 x 0,90 in the public areas, and 0,30 x 0,90 inside the offices.

All the elements mentioned above had a relative mobility of 1,20 m with regard to their location in the plan in order to adapt to the different compartiment systems.

In most of the cases, the perimetric fan coils units were situated in the apron walls of the facades. These elements, when located in the space between the framing and the ceiling, increase considerably the useable surface. At the same time, they prevent the grids to be blocked with elements left between the fan coils.

This solution allowed us to to have all the remaining height of the plan available as area of vision.
The fact of choosing a light facade instead of a traditional one is justified because the increase in price of one with regard to the other is compensated for by the increase in useable surface over built surface of one with regard to the other.

At the time of execution of this project, there was not available in the market place, at least to our knowledge, the current wide range of colour reflectors and glasses with features such as noise reduction, thermal insulation, sun factor, etc.

The solution adopted for the facade consisted in a Curtain Wall. Such wall was made up of a structure of aluminum profiles placed vertically at a distance of 0,90 m and multiples of 0,90 m in horizontal position.
The areas of vision are made up of a composition of Reflectasol glass of 10 mm, with a base of Pink-Rosa Parsol glass with an air space of 12 mm and a sheet of 4 + 4 mm. The opaque glazed areas consisted of a tempered Luna Reflectasol glass of 10 mm with Sandwich Panel.

The remaining part of opaque areas was solved by using Sandwich Panels of bronzed-anodised aluminum.
The purpose of this building was to become a reference for current technology through the use of various elements: a building environment predominantly made up of brick, the presence in its centre of the Church of the Old Reparadoras Convent, a brick building of Neobaroque style by Luis Bellido which was finished in 1925, and other structures of this same material such as the old head office of Deutz trucks.

The arrangement of the glazed openings and the aluminum-covered spaces helps stylising the rigid proportions imposed by the distribution of volumes of the building.

The elements that help distinguishing the building, while giving it a uniform image are the following: the coppery and purple colors of panels and glasses, the design of the external emergency stairs as light elements but integrated in the building design, and the finial in the top of the building that integrates the two levels of the roofing.

 
 

 

 

 

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