✅ Mall and offices Clesa factory

The Clesa milk factory was designed by the architect Alejandro de la Sota together with the engineer Manuel Ramos. It is one of the first works in Spain with a prestressed concrete structure that facilitated the acquisition of a large diaphanous space that changed the trajectory of Modern Architecture in Spain. Its construction was carried out between 1958 and 1966. It was a factory dedicated to the production of dairy products. After the bankruptcy of Rumasa the property passes to Metrovacesa, who wanted to build a residential, hotel and commercial complex in the area. One of the actions was the demolition of the factory. A construction permit and some fences from a demolition company triggered the alarm. The College of Architects of Madrid tries to convince the Madrid City Council and Metrovacesa for the conservation of the building, something complicated to understand in the case of an old factory in disuse and a building not cataloged. Finally Metrovacesa proposes a contest to conserve the factory and its surroundings, where it must propose uses and architectural proposal. The Clesa factory is a work of modern architecture studied in universities and is documented in the Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérica as a work of Spanish industrial architecture.

The project presented is based on the conservation of the building, giving it the use of a shopping center with offices in the form of a business incubator. For the rest of the group, the construction of a hotel is proposed. On both sides of the factory, two public squares are projected. In the square between the hotel and the factory, an underground public car park with connection to the shopping center is proposed.

In order to adapt the necessary height of the milk factory to the new use, where it is no longer necessary, the construction of intermediate, totally permeable plants is proposed so as not to lose spatial fluidity. In the building, two paths are proposed as internal streets that connect the two squares as well as the avenue of Cardenal Herrera Oria with the new streets opposite to it, like a “cardus and decumanus” that intersect in a internal square where all the communications of the different floors are lodged.

ORIGINAL STATE

Images transferred by the organizing entity.

PROJECT

Site

The whole object of the project is divided into the following parts:

Building of the old Clesa factory in which rehabilitation is proposed, on the one hand, a shopping center for the area of the central warehouses and, on the other hand, a business center for the area of the former offices of the factory. Both uses work independently.
Building for hotel use located on the side of the plot adjacent to Isla de Sicilia street.
Public square located on the roof of the underground parking lot that faces the eastern façade of the shopping center.
Public park located in the rest of the plot that is in the part adjacent to the west facade of the shopping center.
Underground parking for the shopping center located under the newly created plaza located inside the block between the shopping center and the hotel building.

The exterior of the building

The preservation of the protected facades in the north and west is proposed.
On the west façade, it is proposed to respond to the demolished area of the old loading dock with access to the unloading area and running windows for the supermarket area.

On the southern façade a more sober façade is proposed, interrupted by the viewing platform of the access ramp to the walkway of the deposits of the tanks and the grilles, or small ventilation holes, of the technical plant.

On the facade there are some stained glass windows to allow visual transparency from the plaza of the shopping center.

For all the facades are proposed, as far as possible, the configuration of the same with the same means of communication in the other facades to not lose the idea of all of them.

Continue on the page in the part of the tower in the adjacent complex and the hotel in the same complex proposes the rehabilitation of the position of the reflective materials in respect of the sloping roof and in what refers to the flat roofs, passable with suitable pavements, wooden platform or similar, in the non-passable flat roofs, the creation of a vegetal cover that refers to the public in its upper part.

Square and park

As an exterior configuration, a square is proposed.
For the outer space of the western area of the plot a public park is proposed. The aforementioned park has a non-organic linear composition, traced by straight lines that form routes and whose intersection generates spaces where small squares can be located as zones of meeting point and playgrounds, ponds or spaces for the exhibition of sculptures. Therefore, the use of the park as an outdoor sculpture exhibition is proposed.

Parking

We propose an underground parking with access rolled by the prolongation of the Xaudauro street.
The pedestrian access is proposed through exits directly to the square and the shopping center.
It is configured in two connected floors with ramps of straight section.
The public square is located on the roof.

Hotel

The building next to the street Isla de Sicilia is proposed as hotel use on the ground floor and the four superiors. The roof is proposed as recreational space for hotel users.
The first basement of the building that communicates directly with the public square of new creation is proposed as commercial and catering mainly. With this we get to surround the newly created plaza as much as possible and not have residual spaces without occupation that would eventually generate a degraded area within it. You must also use part of this floor, in the area next to Isla de Sicilia Street, for the situation of the hotel parking ramp and reserve a parking area that completes the lower basement, which requests planning.
The lower basement is proposed as the exclusive use of the hotel car park. The height of the floor coincides with the floor of the first floor of the parking lot in the square. There is the possibility of communicating both car parks, although the proposal is not considered, leaving both car parks independent.

Shopping Center Building

It is proposed to use the central warehouses of the old Clesa factory as a commercial center. The proposal divides the ships in level 0.00m and the ship in height 4.33m in two floors given the height of the same.
The floor of the nave located at a height of 0.00m organizes the entire reception space of the building. It has three entrances that communicate the different facades with the exterior. A door is located on the west facade and faces the newly created plaza. The other two entrances give one to the north facade and another to the south, creating between them, inside the building, a communication as an interior street that connects the two entrances and where you can see on one of its sides the different stores that make up the plant at a height of 0.00m. All these entrances, as well as the communication of the door on the west façade, intersect at a point that coincides with the old sterilization zone, which functions as a meeting point and communication node with the different floors of the shopping center.

This new internal plaza area communicates the different floors of the building by means of escalators or panoramic elevators.
The final access that leads to the aforementioned inner square provokes the visitor a look towards the upper part due to the important height of this space, which provide an immediate perception of the organization of the building and the different spaces to visit.

The plant located at elevation -1,90m will occupy an access area that faces the west façade of the building and consequently the adjacent park. In this plant the location of a supermarket is proposed in the rest of the plant not occupied by the access. The mentioned access will communicate, on the one hand, with an escalator with the internal square. This inner square can be seen on arrival by the west facade thanks to the existence of the light well that it contains. On the other hand, the aforementioned access also communicates, by means of mechanical ramps with the basement located on the 4,30m level and at the same time with the underground parking outside the building.

At the end of the plant at elevation -1,90m. the loading and unloading area of the supermarket and shopping center is located. This area has the capacity to enter with trucks inside the building and carry out the loading and unloading inside it. All material unloaded in this area can be transported by means of a forklift to the rest of the building. The aforementioned forklift crosses from the plant located at elevation -4.30m, which can be used as a warehouse of supplies, to the different plants. Said forklift also serves to evacuate waste and packaging from the different stores in a fast manner without interfering in the public operations of the shopping center.
The plant located in elevation + 1,63m in the nave, given the low height, is proposed mainly as a technical plant, taking advantage of its buildability for the creation of new commercial sale plants located in the two warehouses. It is proposed to demolish a part of this plant for the passage of escalators. If you also locate the main toilets of the shopping center which are accessed from a ramp or staircase located on the ground floor. On this floor are also the changing rooms of the staff, cleaning and security area of the center. In addition to the communication with the shopping center it has a communication through the internal forklift.
In the plant located in level + 4.33m are the shops of the shopping center. This floor communicates with another one of new creation located on the floor in level 0.00m configuring a double space on the aforementioned plant, not only in the interior square but in all the internal street. The perception from this plant of all commercial traffic of the lower floors is total. This plant is connected to the internal street by means of an open staircase to allow the transparency of the same on the lower floor. The newly created plant located on the ground level of 0.00m is located slightly below the plant in height +4.33m to allow the passage with clearance under the beams. This plant respects the skylights not placing any store in its lower part.
As a particularity to say that in the plant height +4.33m, due to the protection of the supports of the old deposits, it is proposed to transform them into small stores totally glazed to show the existence of the mentioned protected supports. In the upper part these supports work as a walkway with a transparent railing in its straight part and a chrome in its curved part as a reminder of the old tanks.
The plant located on the level + 4.33m is the last floor of the shopping center. In it are located some more shops and access to the footbridge of the old deposits mentioned above, by means of a ramp that in its landing projects from the facade as a lookout from the outside. From this floor it is also possible to observe not only the transit of the lower floor but also what happened on the ground floor due to the gaps between the skylights that face the other nave.

Bussiness center

The business center is located in the old offices of the factory. It is thought of as offices with shared services. The user rents the office he needs for his work, the rest of the services are provided by the center (cleaning, toilets, cafeteria, meeting rooms …).
The business center is divided into two parts. On the one hand, the offices located in the area of the old offices. On the other hand, the cafeteria and meeting rooms located in the adjacent building where the old changing rooms were located.
The entrance is no longer located on the old access staircase. It is proposed an entrance with an entrance hall that divides, on one side, the office area and, on the other hand, the cafeteria and meeting room area.
Taking advantage of the existing staircase in the offices and the elevator, the extension of the staircase is proposed to concentrate the same staircase in all the office floors.
In the adjacent building, the installation of a cafeteria mainly used by users of the business center as well as external users is proposed. Not so the users of the shopping center that will already have there of these services. The kitchen of the mentioned cafeteria has direct access of merchandise to the outside, so as not to obstruct the use of the users of the cafeteria.
The meeting room area is located on the upper floor of the adjacent building, directly accessible either by the communication staircase of the old entrance or by the staircase or elevator that connects the offices.