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Architects: SUMA
- Year: 2013
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Photographs:Jesús Granada
Text description provided by the architects. The PLAY-TIME apartments is a project of seven units for short term rental in Ciudad Lineal, Madrid. The developer chose the place because he was looking for an oasis in the city. As architects , we proposed to intensify that condition. The movement of the building gives each housing with its own terrace and the construction system provides its own garden in the perimeter. The units, two per floor , are independently assembled on a vertical core -with elevator and services- so they can be oriented freely, limited only by urban conditions and the spiral staircase that climbs around the perimeter, to which they turn their backs.
The result is seven tree houses, surrounded by more than forty different species of climbing plants, chosen according to the orientation, whether they are evergreen or deciduous, their leaves and fruit color, flowering period, smells and textures. Thus the green tapestry provides the main architectural features of the envelope (solar and hygrothermal control, vision and intimacy adjustments) and a catalog of sensorial experiences.
As a result, the building collects the aspirations of the developer as well as disciplinary obsessions (the vertical garden, the spiral organization, typological subversions, and the apparently free and in-formal envelope shape) but it does so in a way we had to learn everything along the way and we now feel that we could not do without any of the elements without sacrificing the entire project.
