El Capricho - The Caprice

This project is an investigation of geometries and shapes. A proposal of new forms and solutions, resulting in a stratification of spaces that are unique as well as references to Madrid. Each space translates itself into a constructive language and the system gets it understood as a whole. The infrastructure is not generic, and the form is not a caprice.

Chamartín is Madrid´s northern gate, so this project should be a presentation of the city, an infrastructure that projects Madrid image; that sew the rail tracks void and that contains city in itself. The project began with the selection and study of those buildings that, either because of their geometry, their structural solution or their individuality, stand out and are identified as peculiar of the city. This analysis resulted in a series of structures, construction typologies and spaces to work with: domes, supports and arches; the street, the park and the city endowments. The working conditions were set: Madrid´s identitarian geometries as the design tool, and the pre-existing station as the rules that characterize a station. An overlapping system of the construction elements selected was developed in such a way that it generates a controlled structure considering the human scale.\nThis system results in three specific spatial conditions, three strata, and three structural solutions. Each space collects several urban uses depending on the conditions offered by each construction element. These strata are: The Domes. The new station is urban life. It is a bridge, a street. The Capricho. It is the spatial fortune that comes from the structural system. An artificial topography of domes as hills and supports as trees. The archeries. Arches which delimit spaces that may or may not contain program; that can be paths or lounges.\nAs for the technical approach, the geometry complexity requires the onsite setup of concrete elements obtained from formwork sculpted by digital manufacturing. Dome caps, supports and arches will be prefabricated and placed on site. For the structural dimensioning, the 3D model was introduced in Karamba to obtain loads and deformations. The results have ensured the balance of the proposed system.\nThis project has been a study on the city and infrastructures. An investigation on new tools both on software as on construction, studying the possibilities of digital manufacturing from parametric design, and a challenge designing a new system and proposing its technical solution.