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RENOVATION OF THE BUILDING AND GARAGE LOCATED IN 45, JOSE ABASCAL ST.- MADRID
2001. MADRID

This is an assignment from the real state company José Abascal 45 S.A.


The purpose of this assignment is to draw the basic reformed project for the renovation of the building sited in nº45, José Abascal St.


This building has a maximum height of eight floors and it is located in between plot nº 43, with a height of three floors, and plot nº 47, with a height of eight floors on the grade line.


The plot of land of the building is located between plots nº 43 and 47 of the same street.


The building has a depth of 31.90 m with a frontage overlooking the street of 30.20 m, which means that it has an estimated surface of 964 m2.


Jose Abascal St is one of the main roads in Madrid and it is completely developed. It has all the necessary infrastructure services: electrical distribution, water supply, telephony, irrigation channels, plumbing, etc. The percentage of slope in the front of the plot is of around 2.5%.


The distance between the facades is 30 m, with tree-lined sidewalks 5 m wide, and a one-way road 20 m wide.


This building has been registered in the Catalogue of Protected Buildings with protection level 2. This level protects the architectural elements that define the articulation of the building with the exterior.


FINAL SOLUTION


Essentially, the programme to be developed consisted in adapting the building in order to be used as office building. The restructuring process had to be carried out making the best use of the existing surface and achieving an optimum functional level.


The proposal suggested included the recovery of the original building structure by means of removing the extra parts that were added to the building for activity purposes in the past, specially in the back yard and in the recess of the facade of the fifth floor.


In order to reduce the effects that this new use of the building could have on the traffic of the area, two basement floors will be devoted to garage use.


The solution envisaged does not allow a joint use of the porch by pedestrians and vehicles because it is stricly prohibited by the urban developement regulations and also because it would not be feasible due to the density of the traffic at certain times of the day.


For these reasons and after a careful analysis for its integration in the facade, a vehicular access has been placed in the most covenient end, following the slope of the street, in order to achieve the necessary height.


Regarding the interior, the change in use demands a new conception criteria that, from now on, will have to be valid for a rational use of the building.


Consequently, the courtyard becomes an important element that has to be structured with the aim of giving more life to the space and serving as a link for the users.


The architectural appearance of this courtyard comprises bay windows located in each side of every floor, with curved front and decorated leaden windows.


A glazed roofing has been planned for the top part in order to allow its integral use while keeping the same level of lighting for the different offices.


After performing an analysis of the movements of the staff inside the building, it became evident that the vertical communication elements were not enough. Likewise, the analysis showed the need to have an evacuation centre in case of emergency.


In order to solve this situation, the use of the existing staircase and the lift has been restricted to the management.

A new communication centre has been created for the evacuation and use of the rest of the staff. This latter is made up of a staircase and a group of three lifts, which connect all the floors up from the second basement to the fifth floor.


FUNCTIONAL CRITERIA


Taking into account the architectural value of the building, we have chosen a balanced solution in which, while maintaining the main features of the building, the rigid structure of the wall bearings is lightened using bridgings joists and pillars.


This solution has been determined by the need to achieve greater flexibility in the use of each of the offices planned. For such an end, the original structural elements have to be ligtened in order to create open-plan surfaces that allow this flexibility of use.


Due to the fact that the building was planned for office renting, all the offices available have been carried out in order to be as versatile as possible to adapt to the different uses they might be given.


Such versatility is achieved by using floor and ceiling elements that can accommodate, between them and the framing, all the necesary pipes and which also allow an easy checking of their state. Likewise, they allow to change the elements of compartmentalisation of the spaces.


Regarding the installations, the building will have all the necessary elements in order to ensure a substantial level of use and comfort in every office.


This building will include the most suitable technological systems with the aim of allowing their replacement in the future for new technologies.

This is done in order to avoid a premature obsolescence of the building. These systems will also ensure an adequate use of the building in the event of operational changes and, therefore, they will contribute to prolong its life span.


The implementation of the solutions proposed in these functional and basic criteria will allow to combine elements of the architectural style of the building with elements of flexibility and versatility, which are nowadays demanded by the market.

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