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AZCA

Competition for the remodeling of the A.Z.C.A block

The urban model of A.Z.C.A suffers a degradation that affects three fundamental aspects: sociological, urban and economic. The excessive and poorly planned urban and programmatic densification has resulted in uninhabitable spaces, generating areas that are difficult to access, and the criterion of absolute separation between cars and pedestrians, which determines the order of the proposal, has resulted in a lower road traffic network, scarce and poorly drawn.

Our proposal bets on improving the connections with the city, as well as the system of public spaces within, and the introduction of new attractions that allow the occupation of the interior of the block in a continuous way. We intend to establish a new order through the creation of an artificial landscape (the upper layer, for continuous public use) and a great program (the lower layer) that will host new uses with the intention to revitalize not only AZCA, but the whole area around it.

We propose to reveal relationships that have been ignored so far. A.Z.C.A is an incomplete, fragmented and disconnected city; incomprehensible form the citizen's point of view. Faced with city structures that are easily recognizable by the citizens (the street and the buildings that go with it), A.Z.C.A does not have a clear organization. Its planning consists of a set of buildings placed on a territory without an apparent order or relation. However, there is an "invisible" order determined by the underground structure (tunnels and parking), which organizes the A.Z.C.A block. Therefore, the exterior is organized from the interior.

The project seeks to enhance the existing buildings by showing the invisible structure that organizes everything. We call this new structure a carpet.

More than regenerating or transforming reality, the proposal is about “resounding” with it to reform it, to restructure it, to reactivate it. To do this, we begin by recognizing, selecting, and processing the most relevant information, but also by encouraging trajectories that are capable of transferring it to more complex situations, whether plural or ambiguous.

Competition project

First Prize ex-aequo International Ideas Competition for the remodeling of AZCA. Madrid City Council. Redevelopment of the AZCA block. Madrid. 2006.

Selected PFC Exhibition X Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism. Remodeling of the block of A.Z.C.A. Madrid. 2009

Selected National Competition PFC Pasajes/IGuzzini 2007-09: Remodeling of the AZCA block. Pasajes/IGuzzini. Madrid.

Credits

Location Madrid, Spain

Year 2006

Built area 20ha

Client Municipality of Madrid

Architecture gon (Gonzalo Pardo) + Cristina Parreño

Team Mónica Bujalance, Jorge López, Joaquín Pardo, Fernando Pardo

Published in

ICON DESING EL PAIS (2021) ¿Por qué solo se ha convocado a arquitectos extranjeros para la rehabilitación de Azca?

MIT ARCHITECTURE (2011) Madrid AZCA