Francisco MANGADO
 
fM
FRANCISCO MANGADO

Civil Courts Building Madrid Campus of Justice+

2007-

Madrid-Spain

74.448 m2


The circular floor plan has an inconvenience: it can entail a lack of spatial reference. For this reason part of the program is tucked into more polygonal volumes, creating between them, between the exterior perimeter and the interior containers, a series of voids, of tree-lined courtyards that bring light inside, and at the same time act as thermal control elements.

The orientation of the circle can be understood as a continuous gradient in terms of sun impact. The transit between south and west – the orientations with harsher sunning conditions in Madrid – and the east and north – more manageable but also more needy of light – defines a ‘degree of opening’ system that not only illustrates the spatial relationship with the exterior, but that also defines a compositive scheme of the complex.

The main and public access, located to the north, offers the piece’s greatest degree of opening. It leads to a public, shaded space, bathed in light and reflections, which transmits the calm and the institutional value that justice must convey.

The basic organization between the more public and the more private areas corresponds with the two geometries. The broken volumes of the interior accommodate the more public uses; the circular perimeter the more private ones. The lower floors house the more frequent and usual functions; the upper levels the least common ones. The conceptual premise, when it addresses logical arguments, coincides with the programmatic one.

Madrid, España