The building is located in the neighborhood of Palermo, a small-scale residential area, with an important traffic flow. Two volumes of housing are implanted supported on the front and back of the lot according to the scale of the neighborhood. Both volumes are connected by an open staircase and bridges where accesses to the units are located, between these two elements a vertical grid appears with vegetation that sews all the levels. This open system generates a central void that takes advantage of the lower height of the boundaries and seeks to capture more natural light.
On the free ground floor we find the access and the retails, which contains a succession of courtyards, voids and balconies that are linked to the large central void that separates the retail from the common amenities of the building.

The corten steel facade provides privacy, a visual control from the street and generates an interesting light and shadow game.

On the rear facade, the glass balustrades allow the opening towards the courtyard of the ground floor, where we find green spaces, the pool and the solarium.
These two ranges of colors are mixed in the main void where the light combines them prioritizing the warm tones over the cold ones, and giving a final and homogeneous character to the building.

What was the brief?

To design a building that can relate with the environment, generates good spatial qualities, and had plenty of light, vegetation and natural ventilation. The semi-covered circulations, the perforated facade and the wide central void contributes with all these premises.

How are the different units made up?

In the upper floors, 11 units appear in three levels distributed in 5 typologies that are shown as studio apartment and two-room apartment in the 1st and 2nd level; and units of two and three rooms in duplex with own terrace on the 3rd level. The units are designed for temporary rent, so specific location and surface characteristics were specified.

What materials did they use?

The materials were important to give a particular touch to each space. It was done with two chromatic systems: the first one is a warm palette where the original brick wall of the patio is located and found with the textured plaster and the corten steel; the second one is a cold palette where railings, openings and blacksmiths were painted in dark gray to relate to the concrete from bridges, stairs and sills.