In PAU de Sanchinarro, one of the new cities situated on the north eastern edge of Madrid, two plots are destined for development as a possible ‘escape’ from the uniformity and claustrophobia of a surrounding filled with six-story blocks.

In the first, the typology of houses surrounding an inaccessible patio is turned sideways creating a communal space with a view of the city, and the Guadarrama Mountains. The tower preserves open space needed by the modern city. The large lookout space, 40 meters above the ground, provides occupants and neighbours with a community garden and a space to contemplate the skyline.

The slits in between the blocks act as access zones and are conceived as vertical alleys. Their transformation along each itinerary agglomerates the compendium of typologies that are structured like small suburbs. It leads to a vertical sequence of stairs, halls, platforms, and streets. It creates a vertical neighbourhood. It becomes the reference point of the neighbourhood. The allowance for the realisation of this building can be seen as a sincere and honest manifestation of Spanish self-criticism, an admirable character trait. Perhaps it is an elementary one, especially for a culture that wants to be open, vivid, and cosmopolitan.