San Juan Evangelista College, Madrid, has always been synonymous with innovation, birthplace of culture, jazz and flamenco temple, and germ of multiple artistic, political and cultural movements.

After its controversial closure, and subsequent squatting invasion, the creative genesis of Johnny remains. Does Johnny hide secret sources of inspiration and creativity inside it?

Creativity is defined as the capacity to create, invent, innovate, imagine, discover a work of ingenuity, art or craftsmanship very laborious, or that reveals a great inventiveness.

Throughout history, this creativity was intrinsic in the artisans, concept that has changed until our times. Chefs, cocktail makers, gardeners, among others, are the new artisans of the 21st century, the new creative class, and for them, and their training is "The Creative Factor", a center in which students of different Modalities coexist, making the studies of one influence the other and solving the deficiencies detected in the neighborhood.

The original residential building is divided into three separate areas and each of them constitutes a self-sufficient housing unit in all daily tasks except food and laundry service.

These three "communities" are arranged horizontally maintaining individuality of accesses. To achieve this massification, the rooms are the same and small.

 

"It is not rational to impose identical elements on diverse individuals", Lucien Kroll.

 

Therefore, a reinvention of the three communities is proposed, taking them to the extreme and creating a sense of belonging as individuals and a social identity as a group.

In this way, Metropolis is linked to the technological world, production and maximum efficiency.

Wonderland, is related to the natural world, the vegetable, the smell of crops, wood ...

Neverland is the most ephemeral community. It is linked to the world of leisure, the playful. It is formed by filters, light sieves and various uses. Each of these communities has specific needs, so it has both technical and spatial consequences.

Thus, the metropolitan rooms are units between the working and private worlds, equipped with mechanisms designed differently for each user: mobile furniture for cooks, distillate systems for the cocktail or hydroponic crops for botanists.

In Wonderland, however, the structures of the crop are extrapolated to the world of inhabiting, generating enclosures and mechanisms by means of these elements.

Neverland is the most ephemeral community, made up of textile elements of different materiality, either opaque, plastic or networks of different densities. These networks are removed by means of rails, and the consequent control mechanisms. It maintains the maximum possible original material in the partitions, adding new materials to complete the unit. Quoting Xavier Monteys in La Casa Collage: "we are the diagram of the functions of inhabiting our house". But, what happens when there are several inhabitants and their diagrams come together?

A series of convergence spaces are defined as common, transit or shared activities. The extreme specialization of these spaces is not necessary, since this leaves them to lose flexibility. Thus, any corridor can be a workshop, a kitchen or a laboratory if its users so decide.

Individuals are the house.

The house ceases to be a compact unit and the dwelling becomes a series of experiences or stimuli chained, spaces linked, either by visuals, sizes or programs. The value of small landscapes integrated in a different use is revealed. Urbanistic concepts are transferred to the interior, making a simile between the building and the city: the rooms are the house, the corridors the streets and the living rooms the squares.

To solve the new space and energy needs, a series of micro-surgeries are proposed:

• A specific treatment is given to each facade, depending on its use and orientation. For this, a series of parasites are added, which contribute new spaces to colonize.

• Routes are generated, connecting points with related programs.

• Selective demolitions are done, creating new patios, which expand the interior landscape catalog and favor natural ventilation.

• The original concept of the three communities is reinterpreted, taking them to the extreme.

• Given that they are communities with very different needs, a series of interlocking common spaces are generated, to favor the interrelation of the users.

In the case of linked communities, a system of self-management is proposed, in which each one focuses its formation in contributing something to the community: the cooks take the dining room, the botanists take care of the gardens of spices, etc. It is committed to saving and energy efficiency of the building, proposing a system of rainwater collection, and gray water recycling for later use in the irrigation of gardens. They are purified by macrophytic plants and are stored in basement tanks. On the other hand, a system of air conditioning and ventilation is installed through UTAs on deck, and grids, fancoils and plenums according to the needs of the space they serve.

The original structure is complemented by a series of trusses that can be traversed on deck, from which the façade parasites are removed by cables.

These trusses, which are supported by a secondary system, are generated by three networks of tubular profiles and spherical knots. Promoted by the young and entrepreneurial character of the neighborhood and driven by the new Creative Factory, there are many activities in their streets, squares or empty spaces.

New proposals are collected, but pre-existing ones are also regulated. The activities are developed in satellite scenarios of the neighborhood, but have their epicenter in The Creative Factory.

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"(...) In the R + D + R programs, we must promote the 3T: technology, talent and tolerance (...)." Richard Florida, Creative Class.

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Johnny and its habitants have done so throughout their history, and now it's up to us.

Welcome to the Creative Factory!