SPLASH! by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos
29/07/2016.
Swimming Pool Series 2016. [MAD] Spain
metalocus, PALOMA DE LA QUINTANA
metalocus, PALOMA DE LA QUINTANA
Summer has already started and to refresh you all in this hot days we bring you SPLASH, a swimming pool with a vertical element capable of cooling the highest temperatures.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Detail of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
View of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos. Photograph © Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero. Image courtesy of Imagen Subliminal.
Axonometric view of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos.
Site inside the plot of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos.
Floor plan of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos.
Elevation plan of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos.
Section of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos.
Axonometry of SPLASH by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos.
Manuel Ocaña was commissioned to design SPLASH, a vertical element capable of restoring the life of a garden that had been threatened by a large wall built on the adjacent plot. SPLASH not only covers the gloomy dividing wall but also also projects clouds of water to acclimatize and reacts to light, reflecting it.
Description of the project by Manuel Ocaña Arquitectos
They come to us because there is a problem. Their private garden, that used to have sunset views over an infinity pool, has recently been blocked by a big raw grey 15x9 mts. wall.
They feel emotionally affected by that threatening wall whose spatial and material properties are by all means negative. It is flat, raw, hard, dry, dull, gloomy, gray, challenging and impenetrable.
The concept must go far beyond a regular vertical garden. They have already discarded former projects. A simple green wall does not keep it from still being a wall. Negative properties are alleviated, not eliminated.
We propose an active element that reacts to light and climate issues, with reflections, vegetation and sprayed water. Besides creating a new horizon, it climatizes the garden and creates new spaces and tours on it. To be clear, it is a toy that can recall their previous sunset experience.
There are technical difficulties, related to previous conditions and production development.
Previous conditions difficulties are that we need an independent structure. We can not rely on the bad wall and there are only three areas of support at different heights. We must avoid and respect water treatment plants, the infinity pool and the stairs that go down to a basement. And, last but not least, we must make the structure modular, since all of it must go through a 2x1 mts. regular entrance door. Production develoment difficulties are mainly related to the neccesity of micropiling in controversial areas and mounting 33 structural modules (all different and decreasing in thickness towards the sky) without scaffolding. On the other hand we had to make several prototypes of the elements that would provide the reflections. The circular mirrors. They were executed in polished stainless steel and cylindrically curved to avoid glaring. They are adjustable, heating proof beacuse of the curved shape, getting the appearance of metallic petals. A network of 60 nebulizers fixed to fork pieces that come out perpendicularly from the structure modules forms a sprayed water cloud, creating its own microclimate. These forks are also intended to allow vegetation to spill over the mirrors, giving more depth to the thing.
The result is a new horizon that floods both garden and house, attracting several species of birds. Its spatial and material properties have now become positive. It is deep, vivid, wet, changing, bright, colorful, reflective, refreshing, overflowing, moldable, fibrous, empathetic and sexy.
More information
Design
Manuel Ocaña, Architecture&Thought Production Office.
Production
Manuel Ocaña Fast&Furious Production Office.
Client
Private.
Landscape
Jorge Basarrate.
Structural consultant
JF de la Torre.
Venue
Dehesa de la Villa. Madrid, Spain.
Photography
Manuel Ocaña
Manuel Ocaña. Born in Salamanca (Spain) in 1966, being transferred to in the same year to Madrid. Architect from Madrid Technical School of Architecture (ETSAM), where he graduated in 1992, founded the practice Manuel Ocaña Architects in Madrid in 2000.
In addition to working as an architect, he has also worked as a road manager for a pop group from the 90s, as well as a steelworker, carpenter, and photographer. He has been an associate professor of architectural projects and a member of the Master Habilitation Committee at the Technical University of Madrid, where he has published books such as “Madrid Monumental: Exorcity”. He has also taught and served on juries at the European University, IE University, the School of Architecture at the University of Alicante, and PUCP in Lima, Peru. He has published his texts and projects in national and international architecture magazines. The Foundation of the Official College of Architects of Madrid has published a monograph on his work entitled "Risky Business", and the Coam-EA Cultural Foundation (Ediciones De Arquitectura) a compilation in the monograph "eXcepto 18".
Among his projects, the Santa Rita Geriatric Center in Ciudadela stands out, an assisted housing building configured on one floor with 60 rooms arranged in a clover shape that face a system of gardens, Ocaña de España, a controversial housing development with a dramatic scenography in Ocaña, Toledo, and the headquarters of Casa Mediterráneo in the former Benalúa station in Alicante (2010-2013). Ocaña also represented Spain at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia.
In addition to working as an architect, he has also worked as a road manager for a pop group from the 90s, as well as a steelworker, carpenter, and photographer. He has been an associate professor of architectural projects and a member of the Master Habilitation Committee at the Technical University of Madrid, where he has published books such as “Madrid Monumental: Exorcity”. He has also taught and served on juries at the European University, IE University, the School of Architecture at the University of Alicante, and PUCP in Lima, Peru. He has published his texts and projects in national and international architecture magazines. The Foundation of the Official College of Architects of Madrid has published a monograph on his work entitled "Risky Business", and the Coam-EA Cultural Foundation (Ediciones De Arquitectura) a compilation in the monograph "eXcepto 18".
Among his projects, the Santa Rita Geriatric Center in Ciudadela stands out, an assisted housing building configured on one floor with 60 rooms arranged in a clover shape that face a system of gardens, Ocaña de España, a controversial housing development with a dramatic scenography in Ocaña, Toledo, and the headquarters of Casa Mediterráneo in the former Benalúa station in Alicante (2010-2013). Ocaña also represented Spain at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia.
