The Trole Building in the south of Madrid is a striking example of adaptive industrial design where a former coffee factory was reimagined as contemporary atelier offices with a bold visual identity that contrasts sharply with its brick-surrounding context; commissioned by a client inspired by the designers’ own workspace, the project began with the demolition of the existing structure and the careful negotiation of urban regulations that allowed a maximum building height of 20 m and three floors, with required setbacks and a footprint of around 4,000 m² plus underground services, prompting a design that balanced municipal codes with architectural ambition. The resulting form was conceived as a new icon for the neighbourhood, a geometric figure clad in dark materials that articulates clean lines and minimalist expression, intended to stand like a “diamond” amid the dull urban fabric and provide 24 atelier units and flexible office spaces in an industrially resonant yet contemporary idiom; throughout more than a year of planning and regulatory review, adjustments—especially to strict fire safety requirements for office and factory loft conversions—refined the design, but the building’s contrasting façade, thoughtful spatial organization, and refined materiality remained at its core, asserting a modern aesthetic rooted in industrial memory and adaptable workspace design. Anto Lloveras & Alberto Sánchez Cabezudo, Trole Building, 2005
The Trole Building is the "supernova" of Lloveras’s architectural praxis. Born from a chance encounter in the Camarote studio, the project involved the radical demolition of an old coffee factory to create 24 double-height "living-thinking" ateliers. Located by the M-40, the building stands as a "zinc star" amid a sea of generic brick, a jewel-like infrastructure designed to foster a "mutable collective habitat." The iconic cantilever, visible from the passing trains, is a testament to two years of "tectonic adventure"—a period marked by high-speed site visits on motorcycles down the Avenida de la Albufera. The zinc skin is not merely a material choice; it is a "chromatological shield" that elevates the industrial plot to a site of high aesthetic tension. Published and celebrated, the Trole Building represents the peak of "Transdisciplinary Urbanism," where the client’s desire for a landmark and the artist’s commitment to "softening boundaries" resulted in a mythic structure that remains a landmark of Madrid’s southern industrial fringe.
TROLE
COAM
ARCHITECTURE BY ANTO LLOVERAS & ALBERTO SANCHEZ CABEZUDO
TROLE SPACESHIP: Black Geometry, White Light
Rising from a demolished coffee plant in Madrid South, the Trole Building blends strict urban codes with expressive minimalism. Its black façade conceals a network of bright, flexible ateliers—spaces designed for contemporary work in an industrial skin. More than architecture, it’s a spatial attitude: bold, clean, and quietly radical.
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