Enjoy 2 free articles a month. For unlimited access, get a membership now.

First Sunset in the Pacific, Madrid

Clavel Arquitectos

SAVE SUBMISSION

1 / 10

Designer
Clavel Arquitectos
Client
Orbit Investments Lot, S.L.
Floor area
1357.00 ㎡
Completion
2017

The parking design was devoted to the Spanish explorer Núñez de Balboa, turning the daily search of a parking space into a time travel, back to 1513. The entry, consisting of a tunnel of repetitive white light arches over a neutral black wall, invites the user to get into a completely unknown interior. Nothing seems to presage what is coming next inside. Halfway, the tunnel expands and divides, providing access to a total of 37 places in two levels.

Right after the user reaches the parking floor, which surrounding walls, devoid of their old tile cladding and exposing their old brick materiality, are lighted half-orange half-blue in order to draw a clear horizon line. This blue lighting, combined with the use of a same color epoxy coating, floods both floors with the intense color of the Pacific Ocean. However, it is when turning the car when a huge sunset surprises us, reflecting itself on the sea. A mirrored stretch ceiling covers the last section of the central corridor, generating an optical effect that simulates a complete sun with a simple semicircular light lamp.

The existing structure, made up of thick columns and powerful downstand beams, perform also a leading role in the design: the perception of superposed beams is taken as an opportunity to reinforce the experience by narrating the circumstances of the discovery in a lyric way. These backlit panels also integrate the general lighting for the parking space in his lower face.