Morphosis, Spain
Client Mr Juan Jose De Gracia, Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda y Suelo, Spain
In a suburban Madrid neighbourhood of conven-
tional, anonymous housing blocks, Morphosis
devised a typology of porosity to suit the social
ideals of this project type. This project challenges
the modern attitude toward social housing on a
topological level, focusing attention on landscape
and community by providing an alternative to the
towering blocks of faceless units that evoke a
sense of prisons rather than homes.
Incorporating landscape as a primary building
material in both a literal and figurative sense, the
project explores a radically different social model
and hierarchy, referencing the traditional European
village rather than the modern city of housing
Madrid Social Housing,
blocks.
The primary surface area is conceived as a
morphing of landscape and village topologies.
Courtyards and footpaths covered by a vegetation-
infused lattice surround two-level housing units. The
1 2
complex provides two-, three- and four-bedroom
units totaling 10,000 square meters of built area.
The units are housed in the flat village center
flanked by a small multi-level building on one side,
and a one-unit-deep (6.3 meters) tower through
which visitors enter the complex, on the other. An
underground garage allows occupants access to all
parts of the village while freeing the complex of
car traffic and thereby further enhancing the
peaceful atmosphere of the living area. Narrow,
weaving, pedestrian-only “streets” contribute to the
creation of the social fabric of the village. The
idiosyncratic topology creates a community-oriented
social fabric and challenges the prevalent urban
social order.
This idealized concept of single-family public
housing in a dense urban milieu maximizes the
number of units with direct access to outside areas
in the form of both private and public courtyards.
In total, the complex provides 3,000 square meters
of open landscape area that is completely covered
1 Overview of the project, rendering
2 General view of the project, rendering
39 A
 Morphosis, Spain
Client Mr Juan Jose De Gracia, Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda y Suelo, Spain
In a suburban Madrid neighbourhood of conven-
tional, anonymous housing blocks, Morphosis
devised a typology of porosity to suit the social
ideals of this project type. This project challenges
the modern attitude toward social housing on a
topological level, focusing attention on landscape
and community by providing an alternative to the
towering blocks of faceless units that evoke a
sense of prisons rather than homes.
Incorporating landscape as a primary building
material in both a literal and figurative sense, the
project explores a radically different social model
and hierarchy, referencing the traditional European
village rather than the modern city of housing
Madrid Social Housing,
blocks.
The primary surface area is conceived as a
morphing of landscape and village topologies.
Courtyards and footpaths covered by a vegetation-
infused lattice surround two-level housing units. The
1 2
complex provides two-, three- and four-bedroom
units totaling 10,000 square meters of built area.
The units are housed in the flat village center
flanked by a small multi-level building on one side,
and a one-unit-deep (6.3 meters) tower through
which visitors enter the complex, on the other. An
underground garage allows occupants access to all
parts of the village while freeing the complex of
car traffic and thereby further enhancing the
peaceful atmosphere of the living area. Narrow,
weaving, pedestrian-only “streets” contribute to the
creation of the social fabric of the village. The
idiosyncratic topology creates a community-oriented
social fabric and challenges the prevalent urban
social order.
This idealized concept of single-family public
housing in a dense urban milieu maximizes the
number of units with direct access to outside areas
in the form of both private and public courtyards.
In total, the complex provides 3,000 square meters
of open landscape area that is completely covered
1 Overview of the project, rendering
2 General view of the project, rendering
39 A
 3a-i

3a-i Decomposition of the project, rendering

5 6
4 Back side of the project, rendering
5 Interior street
4 6 Interior street

40 A 41 A
 3a-i

3a-i Decomposition of the project, rendering

5 6
4 Back side of the project, rendering
5 Interior street
4 6 Interior street

40 A 41 A
 7 Floor plan 00 8 Floor plan 01

11

7,8,9&10 Social Housing, floor plans

11 Social Housing, Sections 12
12 Interior street

9 Floor plan 02 10 Floor plan 03

42 A 43 A
 7 Floor plan 00 8 Floor plan 01

11

7,8,9&10 Social Housing, floor plans

11 Social Housing, Sections 12
12 Interior street

9 Floor plan 02 10 Floor plan 03

42 A 43 A
 in plant growth. The vegetation-covered lattice over
the village area both enhance its ambiance and
shelters it from the extreme summer heat of
Madrid. The landscaped lattice folds up vertically;
like a carpet, the plant growth climbs up the taller
buildings on either side of the village bordering the
site and offers its inhabitants an idyllic refuge from
urban surroundings.

A layer of landscape overlaid upon a façade

composed of a series of open spaces and idiosyn-
cratic punctures (positive and negative spaces)
combine to break down the institutional nature of
the public housing project. Open spaces occur on
three different scales: small, domestic patios inside
the individual residential units, mid-sized public
courtyards that punctuate the low residential
structure, and the large, communal, landscaped
space, the paseo - a large central public court .
The paseo, shaded by trees and a vegetation-
covered trellis, takes the place of a conventional
interior lobby.
This idyllic design makes a building look like a city
by creating different scaled overlapping areas and
layered open spaces with a green street as the
montage line throughout different yards. In this way
the building presents itself as a part of the city’s
urban space. The result is a blurred edge between
building and city which make a soft transition
possible between the Morphosis project and it’s
suburban surroundings.
Text by Morphosis, 1 3 O c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 ,
editing by Mohama d S e d i gh i
13
14
13 Street in front of the houses
14 Interior street
FACTS OF THE PROJECT
Architect Thom Mayne, BDU estudio de arquitectura and
MORPHOSIS Spain
Civil Engineer Rafael Urculo, Urculo Ingenieros
Developer Juan Jose De Gracia, Empresa Municipal
de la Vivienda y Suelo
Design and Construction 2002–2007
Interior Designer Begoña Begoña Díaz- Urgorri, BDU
estudio de Arquitectura
Landscape Architect Ana Luengo, Citerea
Main Contractor Jose Antonio Sanagustín, Uicesa
obras y Construcciones
Project Manager Begoña Begoña Díaz- Urgorri, BDU
estudio de Arquitectura
Structural Engineer Roberto Vargas, Libro Informático
Técnico S.L
Project size 236,800 gross square feet/22,200 gross
square meters
Program Public housing with 141 two-, three- and
four-bedroom units

44 A 45 A
 in plant growth. The vegetation-covered lattice over
the village area both enhance its ambiance and
shelters it from the extreme summer heat of
Madrid. The landscaped lattice folds up vertically;
like a carpet, the plant growth climbs up the taller
buildings on either side of the village bordering the
site and offers its inhabitants an idyllic refuge from
urban surroundings.

A layer of landscape overlaid upon a façade

composed of a series of open spaces and idiosyn-
cratic punctures (positive and negative spaces)
combine to break down the institutional nature of
the public housing project. Open spaces occur on
three different scales: small, domestic patios inside
the individual residential units, mid-sized public
courtyards that punctuate the low residential
structure, and the large, communal, landscaped
space, the paseo - a large central public court .
The paseo, shaded by trees and a vegetation-
covered trellis, takes the place of a conventional
interior lobby.
This idyllic design makes a building look like a city
by creating different scaled overlapping areas and
layered open spaces with a green street as the
montage line throughout different yards. In this way
the building presents itself as a part of the city’s
urban space. The result is a blurred edge between
building and city which make a soft transition
possible between the Morphosis project and it’s
suburban surroundings.
Text by Morphosis, 1 3 O c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 ,
editing by Mohama d S e d i gh i
13
14
13 Street in front of the houses
14 Interior street
FACTS OF THE PROJECT
Architect Thom Mayne, BDU estudio de arquitectura and
MORPHOSIS Spain
Civil Engineer Rafael Urculo, Urculo Ingenieros
Developer Juan Jose De Gracia, Empresa Municipal
de la Vivienda y Suelo
Design and Construction 2002–2007
Interior Designer Begoña Begoña Díaz- Urgorri, BDU
estudio de Arquitectura
Landscape Architect Ana Luengo, Citerea
Main Contractor Jose Antonio Sanagustín, Uicesa
obras y Construcciones
Project Manager Begoña Begoña Díaz- Urgorri, BDU
estudio de Arquitectura
Structural Engineer Roberto Vargas, Libro Informático
Técnico S.L
Project size 236,800 gross square feet/22,200 gross
square meters
Program Public housing with 141 two-, three- and
four-bedroom units

44 A 45 A
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