Once upon a time in Alcorcón

The project aims to transform an industrial state into a real district by reusing the industrial objects and warehouses that recall its own hidden history. All these elements have fused together to give space for the key programs of the new district at the same time they provide an identity to the area.

The history of our cities is built into their architecture, which functions as the mute record of the events which have marked the urban space, which have named streets, opened squares, and raised towers and landmarks. Taken together, these discrete fragments generate a psychological map of our cities, and give them their identity. In the Alcorcón industrial estate events have occurred which haven’t been captured in its architecture or its urban space. If these events have transcended architecture, though, they remain alive in the memory of the locals. Some of this events are the night-clubs of Costa Polvoranca in the 90s, the silos where toxic rapeseed oil was stored in the 80s, the warehouse storing the chairs used in the Gürtel corruption case, the crane which build the estate, the great concrete factory, the pylons that used to provide electricity, the buildings and machinery abandoned by the city council, etc. The strategy has been to recycle all the industrial objects that tell us about the place and transform them so they can hold the key programs for the new district meanwhile they co-exist with the industrial activity that remains active. Therefore, the silos that stored toxic oil now store books for the new library that has developed a mix use with the renovated greenhouses found on the way to Polvoranca park. The great concrete factory is now The Fun Factory close to Crane Square, were inhabitants can pay tribute to the artefact that built the state, which is now a landmark and a viewpoint for the city. The pylons no longer needed for the electricity transport, hold the textile dome for the Event Hall and the chairs involved in the Gürtel affair provide seating to the audience of the Gürtel theatre, which at night turns itself into a club that recovers the nightlife that Costa Polvoranca street used to have in the 90s. Refugees have been finally welcomed in the emergency housing built using the abandoned items in the city Hall’s yard. Housing and infrastructure have been developed using the same recycling concept, so now the district is connected with the city and with Polvoranca Park.