Usera, Madrid, Spain
FIRST PRIZE. EU Competition by invitation
SELECTED. EU Mies van der Rohe Awards
FINALIST VII Bienal de Arquitectura Española
MENTION. XVII Urbanism Awards of Madrid
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Program: Library
Year: 1996-2003
Status: Built
Area: 3.500m2
Client: Comunidad de Madrid.
Structure: José Manuel Sierra, Juan Gómez
Art: Peter Halley
Constructor: Dragados, S.A.
When the Library program is constituted by a set of medium-sized pieces, autonomous and of similar importance, in a situation in which the landscape and institutional aspects have an important weight, it is reasonable to think about the possibilities opened by a vertical organization of the program not only in functional terms - minimizing nuclei and routes, simplifying the construction, offering diaphanous plants, etc. -, but also in a figurative key, as the centerpiece of this block. Conformed as a medium-sized tower, the library can act as a catalyst that reorganizes this space of collective activity in Usera by giving it centrality and urban sense, linking the adjacent parks with each other, solving the unevenness and providing a landscaped and paved area that takes advantage of what exists to give it a greater entity.
