Miembro de Guiding Architects

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE

HOUSING TYPOLOGIES IN MADRID

Towards the end of the nineteen century, at the same as the construction of the Ensanche de Madrid was started Ffollowing the urban planning of Castro, a new typology for housing arised: The “Manzana”: The buildings occupied the limits of the rectangular plots defined by the surrounding streets, creating a green courtyard in the middle in order to allow the flow of air and light and therefore guarantee quality to the apartments.

However, migratory flows and real estate speculation prevent the creation of most of these courtyards. The densification in the city expansion area called Ensanche led to examples where the whole plot was completely built leaving only minimal courtyards to provide some daylight and air.

It’s in this context how the Casa de las Flores, a residential building, developed by the brick industry and managed by the Municipality can be understood, offering a new and reasonable solution which combines high density on living, healthy environment and good living standards, even for today.

Beside the Casa de las Flores, a lot of other internationally recognized examples (and others still to discover) of the Modern Architecture of Madrid, built in the 50´s, 60´s and 70´s, are located within the city expansion area Ensanche, because it’s in the second half of the twentieth century, when its construction was completed just at the same time as the most important growth of population of Madrid in history.

We cannot end our summary without highlighting the newest city expansion areas Carabanchel Alto, Ensanche de Vallecas, etc, most of them planned and built during our Real State bubble between 2000 and 2008 and where many architecture studios, a lot of them young ones, had the opportunity to contribute with their point of view to the contemporary residential architecture.

During this tour on foot, by bike or bus, depending on your preferences, we visit the most representative examples of the different periods in a chronological way.