Modern Architecture: MADRID CIVIL COURTS OF JUSTICE

Birds eye view from West, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects

PROGRAM:
Courts of Law

CLIENT:
Campus de la Justicia de Madrid

SIZE:
74,448 sqm: 49,033 overground / 25,415 underground

CONCEPT:
The formal language and architectural articulation of the design aims to break the static configuration of the surrounding buildings. The design’s soft and dynamic tectonic turns it into an immediate reference for the masterplan, without the need to exhaust maximum building heights.

By way of horizontal shifts of its mass, a sense of elasticity is introduced into the design allowing the building to be grounded at its elevation to the masterplan campus. This elasticity draws visitors into its interior, and permits the building to ‘float ‘above the ground plain.

The envelope of the Civil Court of Justice is composed of a double-ventilated façade. The exterior layer of the facade is composed of metallic panels which respond to environmental and program conditions. These panels shift from open to closed and from flat to extended depending on the circumstances affecting them. It is also envisaged for the metallic panels on the Civil Courts of Justice rooftop incorporates photovoltaic cells. Inside the building, a spiralling semi-circular atrium is developed around the courtyard where all public space evolves. The atrium overlooks the courtyard, which serves as instant reference point for visitors to move around the building and extends to the lower ground floor, providing natural light to enter the court rooms at that level.

COMPUTER RENDERS:

View From West, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects

View From South, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects

View From North, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects

ELEVATION DRAWINGS: