Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz

This building, called Lolita, try to merge the professional activity with the surrounding landscape that encompasses different scales and programs, getting noticed in a very diverse context. The architects are supported by geometry, scale and proportion, besides using different materials to distinguish the project from other office buildings.

Project Synopsis

This is a commercial building in front of the M40/+A6 loop, with a small park beside, city views to the south and over the mountains to the north. The guiding concept is to create a stimulating working environment offsetting the typical modular and material remains of the office building for an interior landscape in interaction with various exterior landscape scales: The one of the highways, which kinetic trace replicates and accompanies; the one of the distance views, toward its volumes are oriented; and the one of the public park and its own garden, which it interacts with through trees shadows and water reflections. The building manage to impose its presence entrusting on the resources of geometry, scale and proportion with a reduction to the limit of the building elements employed. The noise and the air pollution of the site determines the hermetic enclosure of triple sealed glass with night air renewal by mechanical means, a solution that the large panels of glass allow because of its high insulation value, making possible a panoramic connection with the natural and artificial environment of Madrid.

Text.- Ábalos + Sentkiewicz arquitectos

CREDITS.-

Main architects.- Iñaki Ábalos, Renata Sentkiewicz, Alfonso Miguel.
Team collaborators.- Jorge Álvarez-Builla, Eva Gil, David Huang; Eduardo Barrón (structural engineer), AIGUASOL (energy and sustainability), Ineco 98-Raquel Laplana (M/E), Ignacio Blázquez (quality surveyor), Singlehome, S.A. (builder), Juan Von Knobloch (landscaping), B&V Interiores-Ángel Verdú (interior design).
Client.- Singlehome, S.A.
Date.- 2006-2009.
Project.- Office building and parking.
Budget.- 2.500.000 €.
Surface.- 4.865 m² (total area), 2.365 m² (superficie oficinas), 2.500 m² (parking Area).
Site.- C/Rafael Botí 24-26-28, Valdemarín Este, Madrid, Spain.

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Interior view of Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz. Photography © José Hevia.

Access. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz. Photography © José Hevia.

Facade´s detail. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz. Photography © José Hevia.

Night view. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz. Photography © José Hevia.

Site plan. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz.

First floor. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz.

Second floor. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz.

Third floor. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz.

Section. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz.

East elevation. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz.

Constructive detail. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz.

Sketch. Lolita, office building by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz.

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More information

AS+. ÁBALOS+SENTKIEWICZ ARQUITECTOS

Ábalos+Sentkiewicz arquitectos, AS+. Madrid-based architecture practice was founded and led by Iñaki Ábalos and Renata Sentkiewicz in 2006. The practice has local offices in Cambridge (USA) and Shanghai (China).

Iñaki Ábalos and Renata Sentkiewicz have taught in prestigious university centres such as GSD-Harvard University, Architectural Association, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, and ETSAM, combining academic, professional and research activities. Iñaki Ábalos has been Chair of the Department of Architecture at GSD Harvard University and RIBA International Fellowship 2009 (Royal Institute of British Architects). Abalos is currently Chaired Professor at ETSAM.

The projects and built work of Abalos+Sentkiewicz AS+ are internationally recognized and have been the subject of individual exhibitions and many collective exhibitions in the most prestigious centres: GSD Harvard, AA-London, Pavillon de l’Arsenale-Paris, MoMA-NYC (5 built works in three different exhibitions: Light construction, ON Site, Groundswell), Chicago Architecture Biennial, Biennale di Architettura di Venezia, etc. This prestige also reflects in the 40 awards received (25 of them first prizes) in architecture competitions. Another 46 awards have been given to different research and design activities, 19 of them to Built Works. Their professional work has been collected in 12 monographs and their theoretical work has been compiled through 12 books. Critic William Curtis has chosen one work of the firm, the Pavilion in the Retiro Park, as one of the three best works built in Spain during the last 30 years.