DV Offices / KAL A
During the first decade of the 21st century and before the 2008 economic crisis, Madrid’s suburban areas were highly developed, and their residential capability was exploited to its maximum allowance. A strict urbanistic regulation forced new constructions to consider a percentage of ground floors to have only and exclusively commercial or office purposes, despite there being no interest or commercial activity at that time. Many commercial spaces located within residential blocks were never put in use and remained almost abandoned for more than a decade. DV Offices is a project that aims to activate the existing urban layer with a hybrid program mostly dedicated to office equipment but providing a neutral configuration that allows the space to be transformed in the future. The initial state of the project used to be two 400m2 units abandoned for more than a decade that needed to be divided into 16 units for freelancers and small companies. To provide privacy and to avoid the common urban level frictions, a double layer facade acts like a visual filter regulating the outside climate conditions and providing the existing buildings with a unitary appearance.