C.L.E.S.A. DEPOT

Project for a train depot and signal tower Madrid, Spain

In the old northern suburb of Madrid a new train depot aims to regenerate and re-use the milk production factory and site of C.L.E.S.A designed by A. de La Sota in 1931. The depot recollects the tension in its shape and volume by pursuing the orientation and the curve of the railway beneath the old milk factory. The rhythm given by the entrances of the trains shapes the building as a dynamic sculpture and it allows the tracks to arrive in a more sinuous and direct way. Four big sheds cover the roof by enhancing and lighting different tracks and work positions and offices. The design of a control and signal tower on the North - West corner of the allotment underlines pragmatically the coexistence of two different characters in Clesa’s panorama. The depot and the basement of the tower are cut by and hoisted in the ground. The tower considers proportion and measure given by the appendix of Clesa’s groundfloor. The basement hosts the guardian house and the control centre while the tower above elevates. Growing for 25 metres and aspiring to become a mirador and a landmark it arranges a planetarium.