Hydrology Research Centre in Madrid

Abstract

The design and construction of this group of buildings follows a basic conception of great formal simplicity and total structural expressiveness. The buildings which constitute this research centre are: a main building, of seven stories, to house the offices, board room, auditorium, discussion room, and ancillaries; a large hall for the reduced scale models, and two smaller halls house the hydraulics laboratories; a two storey building, devoted to auxiliary technical offices, workshops, cafeteria, changing rooms, workmen's dining room, etc.; another building of two floor levels, for rheology work; and a house for the porter. The roof of the hall for reduced scale models is built with hollow, prefabricated units, whose shape follows very precisely their function, namely, protection against rainwater collection of condensed water vapour, protection against direct sunshine, and provision of a means for continued and homogenous illumination. The shape of these units, which are also flitted to the canopy of the main building, is such that the concrete functions with optimum efficiency, and it has a plastic quality reflecting on the initial nature of concrete, «a liquid material, poured into a mould». It is evident that the morphological evolution of concrete will tend more in the direction of these new designs than of the traditional one (similar to timber and metal shapes), in which it gives the impression that it has been made of an originally solid material, instead of a liquid paste.