Fuencarral-El Pardo Police Station

 

The general design of the project answers mainly to the adequacy of its to the environment. The building is set back from the property line leaving a free space that works as a public urban development and allowing the pedestrian access. This gives continuity to the city in order to promote the rapprochement of the citizen to a public building, by tradition, used to be considered as closed and hermetic place.

On the other hand, the building is meant in the environment, offering an architectural landmark reference to the city, thanks to its modern and rotund image. The project tries to change the relationship between a state-owned building and the community through layers of transparency.

From a distance, the facade gives to the building a clear and massive appearance. From proximity, the facade’s skin is only a light film whose transparency allows magnificent views of the city from privacy. The anodized aluminum mesh screens that are periodically perforated to control depth of field and light penetration. These panels create visual impedance towards the interior during the day while allowing undisturbed views to the surrounding city, at night, the building glows with light to expose the inner functions to the outside world.

Anodized aluminum gives to the building image a constantly changing, responding to the lights and chromatics variations along day and seasons. In the same way, the degrees of drilling makes the facade seems different according to the observer's position.

The arcaded plant establishes a separation between the public facility and private office areas and sets a transition space.

Inside, all the work areas are organized around an empty space, a large full-height interior patio and sets up the dialogue between the private area and public spaces. The unifying element of the project is the light that comes through skylights in this atrium. This space, combined with the use of glass in the work units gives all the space inside a panopticon character both horizontally and vertically.

The private spaces by contrast are easily distinguishable as cantilevered solid cubes protruding out of the glass box, and a series of terraces and patios that appear on the facade.