Step 4: Individual Models

We have not found an entirely convincing proposal for re-programming our selected built environment. I suppose you agree with us.

This has been quite disappointing and discouraging, but yet, it's not unususal at all in the proccess of design. Sometimes ideas appear when dealing with functional, program or urban issues. But some other times they appear when we concentrate on just plastical o formal aspects of our design. Or even when we reconsider some constructive o technical procedures. Or ... whenever. The important matter is that ideas HAVE to appear sometime along the process of design.

Therefore, we are now going to approach the material and physical appearance of our design. If someone feels very uncomfortable not having a specific use program for the proposal, he/she can consider any of the multiple proposals presented along step 3. But the real aim of this stage is to work, reason and design attending to different contraints and inputs than those used in previous stages. Now, we want you to primary consider the materiality of built environment in which design will appear: topography, roads, the river, nature, built housing in surroundings, solar orientation, etc... Everything that may affect in any sense the appearance, the noise, the texture, the form, the shape of your proposal.

This step deals with the physical context of Architecture. An to be more precise, with the external physical context. We want you to propose is a new volume that completes, modifies or/and alterarates the existing zombie. As always, we should try to profit the existing building efforts of the site as much as possible. But any type of modification is acceptable. Of course, if it's adecuately reasonned.

Regarding the urbanistic normative of the site, the only presciption we would like you to consider with your designs, is this kind of double possible situation we have within the site, with the limit of the natural park of the Guadarrama, slicing the site in two. You may understand and propose with absolute freedom in your proposal, but we think it would be most challenging to regard this double type of legal situation in your designs.

The format for this step will be a physical model of your proposed design. Surrounding and general suburban context y extremely relevant in this step so we suggest a scale 1/300, which should allow you to introduce sufficient amount of detail in your volumetric proposal as well as presenting sites' context, trees, river, topography, other constructions, roads, etc... Deadline for this models will be Thursday 21, at noon, in our normal class. That day, everyone should come with his/her model. This following dates  we have until then, we'll see some examples, some prototype strategies and we'll discuss your work in progress.