Matutano Building

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1958 · Authors: Luis Cabrera y Sánchez-Real

In the middle of the last century, the Catalan industrialist Luis Matutano commissioned the architect Luis Cabrera to build a multipurpose building intended for housing, offices, commercial premises and two warehouses: one facing Benito Pérez Armas Avenue and the other facing the future Madrid Avenue, which at that time was yet to be laid out.

Cabrera prepared a first project in 1955 in which the building was preceded by a small garden, an idea rejected by the City Council as it did not fit within the planning of the area. Thus, the project was partially modified although not in its original structure. 

The construction is divided into two differentiated volumes. The first is horizontal, functioning as a warehouse, articulated by means of a large reinforced concrete opening with evident structural simplicity. The second volume is vertical in character, rising in height from the first. It includes a mezzanine for offices, three levels of housing with large terraces and a final smaller dwelling that crowns the whole complex.  

The building is characterised by its large single-span porticoes and the considerable cantilevers that respond to the multiple functionality of the building. The exterior carpentry operates with horizontal movements, turning the rooms into large terraces which are enclosed by rope-shaped railings, giving maximum spaciousness to the interior.   

The Matutano Building was completed in 1958. It presents itself as a simple and rigorous composition, characterised by an elemental spatiality of great plastic quality.

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