• Author / Uploaded
• Marilene Yorinde de Wit

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Morphosis - Circuit City Marilene de Wit Research seminar

Analysis Index 3. General project information 4. Urban structure 5. Public space and infrastructure 6. Traffic flows 7. Building site 8. ‘Landscaping’ and typologies 9. Connection to street level ‘village‘ 10. Connection to street level ‘urban‘ 11. Dwelling types ‘village’ 12. Dwelling units ‘village’ 13. Dwelling organization ‘village’ 14. Composition ‘village‘ 15. Routing ‘village‘ 16. Entrance and private space ‘village‘

17. Dwelling types ‘urban’ 18. Dwelling units ‘urban’ 19. Routing ‘urban‘ 20. Entrance and private space ‘urban‘ 21/22 Building Circulation 23. Building mass 24. Building grid 25. Collective space 26. Microclimate 27. Private space 28. Sequences of open space 29. DNA

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General project information Project name: Circuit City Location: Calle del Patrimonio de la Humanidad 2, MADRID, Spain Architect: Morphosis Year: 2002 - 2006 Number of apartments: 141 Square meters: 21.999 Type: Social housing Prizes: 2009: AIA California Council Honor Award 2008: Ayuntamiento de Madrid Awards, First Prize 2003: Los Angeles AIA NEXT Award

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Urban Structure The building is located inside a quiet residential area at the border of Madrid. Most building blocks are standard plastered buildings, built a few years before Morphosis made this design.

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Public space and Infrastructure There are some small parks in the vicinity, yet none of them have a visual connection to the building. There is a freeway right to the south of the building. The building is connected to the primary street only by going through secondary streets.

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Site Traffic flows In terms of traffic flow this is the most quiet site in the area. Part of this is because it’s a corner plot and only has traffic flows on 2 sides. The other is because it’s only has a secondary connection the main road. In terms of traffic nuisance I can image it’s one of the lesser building sites, because of the highway right next to it.

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Building Site The site is a corner plot, which means the majority of the traffic flows to the north and west of the building. The south-east corner is rounded of, which give building it’s arched, triangular shape. To the south is a freeway, with open land in between.

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‘Landscaping’ and typologies The main slab has been raised on both sides, but different heights, so it creates a difference in height. This is the ‘landscaping’. This is then divided into parts. I will refer to the middle part as a ‘Village’ typology, while the top and bottom part are referred to as having an ‘Urban‘ typology

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Connection to Street level ‘Village’ The elevated slab creates an autonomous object. As a passerby you look at the side of an elevated building, which on the one hand creates a disconnection on street level. This is done purposefully, because even though the interior feels and acts like a village typology, it’s important that it remains a building in itself and is not accesible from many sides from the street level. Instead of creating a gate, they created this elevation.

164 Street windows - neg

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Connection to Street level ‘Urban’ At the facade of the urban section, the connection is more direct. There is no elevation slab here. Also there is a sightline that gives a strong visual connection through the main entrance or gate into the main street. This used to be all public space and meant as a thoroughfare, but now it has been closed off due to complaints of the building inhabitants.

101 Building thoroughfare 165 Opening to the street

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Dwelling types ‘Village’ The ‘village’ consists of a composition of different types of maisonettes, in a low-rise typology. They are all mostly slightly different, but colored are the main archetypes based on a L-shaped or U-shaped footprint, private outdoor space and number of bedrooms.

95 Building complex

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Dwelling units ‘Village’ These units are all maisonettes with a patio in the front, and 0, 1 or 2 balconies in different compositions. All the dwelling units are similar, yet all slightly different. This example has 3 bedrooms on the upper floor and a small balcony on the right side. Dimensions: 8x12m

21 Four story limit 97 Number of stories 76 House for a small family 77 House for a couple 140 Private terrace on the street 160 Building edge 167 Six foot balcony

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Dwelling organization ‘Village’ The dwellings are organized with their wide sides along the street, This enables more light from both sides. Also, it creates the opportunity to carve out building mass from the side to enable an extra circulation layer without becoming too narrow.

Top view

100 Pedestrian street

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Composition ‘Village’ By carving out building mass on the ground floor of some of the dwellings, a there is the creation of ‘alleys’. They have a different dimensions from the ‘main street‘. Every so often, there is a dwelling taken out of the pattern, to create a collective courtyard, or ‘place’.

115 Courtyards which live

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Routing ‘village‘ In between the dwellings there is some space left open where you can pass through, to take a shortcut or to avoid the main street. This works like an alley.

38 Row houses

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Entrance and Private space ‘village’ Units can be accessed from the ‘street’, under the overhang. From the dwelling you can enter your private patio, or balcony, All gardens/patio’s/ balconies are oriented to the south. The top floor has a completely dark wall on the north side, for privacy purposes.

105 South facing outdoors 111 Half hidden garden 128 Indoor sunlight 129 Common areas at the heart 161 Sunny place 195 Staircase volume

N

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Dwelling Types ‘Urban’ This ‘urban’ part of the building consists of a composition of different types of apartments and maisonettes, in a highrise typology. The units have, like the ‘village‘, a few archetypes and many variations based upon these. The apartments have 2 bedrooms, and the maisonettes 3 bedrooms. Dimensions big tower: 8x142m Dimensions small tower: 7x37m

160 Building edge

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Dwelling units ‘Urban’ This is an example of an apartment unit. This one has a setback on the entrance, which is the urban equivalent of a front garden or patio. The layout is simple, with 2 bedrooms organized around a loggia, an open kitchen/ living room and a bathroom. This is one of the few apartments that have this loggia as an addition. In most cases, the floorspace is used for a bigger living room and separate kitchen.

76 House for a small family 77 House for a couple

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Routing ‘Urban’ The staircase leads to a gallery, from where you enter your unit. There are little setbacks for the entrances in some cases, that you could interpret as a little frontpatio.

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112 Entrance transition

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Entrance and Private space ‘Urban’ There is a big difference in the presence of outside private space between the apartments. The top apartment has for example a private loggia and a semi-private loggia, but a smaller indoor space Size: 13,20 x 7,60. Other apartments don’t have any outside space at all, but some more indoor space, like the one in the bottom floor-plan. Also, it has a more direct connection to the gallery.

Floorplan apartment type 7

It seems that the architects tried to create different types of layouts and access to private space for people with different priorities.

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128 Indoor sunlight

Floorplan apartment type 3

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Building Circulation

101 Building thoroughfare 100 Pedestrian street 53 Main gateways 31 Promenade

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Building Circulation There is one main entrance to the building. The apartments can be reached by taking a left or right stairs, and the dwellings can be reached by ‘ground floor streets‘. The dark red is one floor higher than the bright red.

53 Main gateways 101 Building thoroughfare

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Building Mass Even though this is a densification project, there is still a lot of open space. In the village section, there are 62 apartments, In the urban section, there are 82 apartments.

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Grid The horizontal grid is regular, with a steady interval. The vertical grid however is more irregular due to the shifts dwellings make to the left or right, and the fact that some units are slightly shorter than others.

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Collective Space Between the maisonettes there are open spaces that form courtyards for the dwellings that border it, like ‘places‘, which is semi-collective space. Right through the middle is the big collective space that used to be the thoroughfare. This is the ‘main street‘

31 Promenade 115 Courtyards which live 174 Tree places

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Microclimate The roof of each dwelling, and the facade of the tower all carry structures that create a microclimate above your head or next to your facade. Helps to create healthy environment and provides sunshade.

173 Garden wall

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Private space A very regular pattern of balconies and patio’s, that are part of the maisonette dwellings.

140 Private terrace on the street 111 Half hidden garden 161 Sunny place

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Sequence of open spaces The way your enter and make your way through the building to your dwelling is connected to which spaces are placed and how you get there. Not just which spaces are there are important, but also how you get there. Together they form all the space that is not inside, and there is a hierarchy in it in this village typology.

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DNA: The hierarchy of open space. 1. ‘Main square’ A public courtyard, where all residents enter and (used to be) a passageway to connect with urban fabric. 2. ‘Main streets’ Division takes place between the village/urban sections of the building in collective space. 3. ‘Streets’ In the urban typology, this is translated as a gallery, and in the village typology as openings on the ground floor which arise from the difference in building volume on the ground floor and first floor, which is collective space on a smaller scale.

Village typology 2

6. ‘Front yard You can enter through a space that is private, but visible from the ‘street‘. In the village typology this is a patio in the urban typology a sort of loggia.

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4. ‘Place’ The village typology has the smaller courtyards, which is semi-collective space. 5. ‘Alley’ In between the dwellings there is some space left open where you can pass through, to take a shortcut or to avoid the main street.

Urban typology

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7. ‘Terrace‘ Through your unit you can enter your private balcony/ balconies. The urban types don’t have this, and some of the village don’t have this either, while others have two.

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