Los Molinos Building

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 2003 · Authors: Antonio Corona Bosch, Arsenio Pérez Amaral, Eustaquio Martínez García

This is a housing complex designed at the beginning of the 21st century by architects Antonio Corona, Arsenio Pérez Amaral and Eustaquio Martínez. Its location is in the block situated between the rear of the La Salle San Ildefonso school and Los Molinos street, a site formerly occupied by a leather tanning factory. 

Here, with great naturalness, without stridency or showy decisions, with few very well-chosen elements, the architects distributed a large number of dwellings around useful and spacious public spaces.

A linear block with an L-shaped plan develops around a large open space, where a detached tower accumulates most of the dwellings, allowing a huge surface to be freed up for a public square that functions, enhancing the concept of emptiness, as a regenerator of the urban space.

The composition of the irregular striping on the façade enhances the horizontality of the complex, contrasting with a natural stone plinth. In the courtyards there are vertical openings that prevent direct views from one to another, using the façade as a single element that only changes appearance when the blinds come into action. This uniformity of appearance and geometric rigour give the entire building a curious and suggestive neutral, serene and unified appearance, which shines amid a very well-cared-for space.

The work was completed in 2003, undoubtedly increasing the quality of urban life in this area that had been quite degraded for years.

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