Dezeen Magazine

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle

Light glitters through thousands of tiny perforations in the bumpy steel exterior of a railway control centre in Spain.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Designed by Madrid architects Moreno del Valle, the two-storey building near Albacete station houses the control room for a high-speed railway between Madrid and Levante.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

A single-storey L-shaped building adjoins the steel-clad block and is contrastingly constructed from concrete.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Vertical ridges texture the walls of this ancillary block, which surrounds a grass courtyard where the main entrance is located.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Inside the centre, a line of meeting rooms occupies a first-floor mezzanine that overlooks the double-height control room.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Desks in this room all face a single wall, where live information is charted.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Other buildings on Dezeen with perforated metal exteriors include one museum punctured by bullet-sized holes and another that moss is expected to grow on.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Photography is by Fernando Alda – see more images on the photographer’s website.

Here's a little more from the architects:


Railway Control Centre

High Speed Line Madrid-Levante

“…wise as the serpents, simple as the doves” (matthew 10:16)

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

The building is categorical on its implantation, an auxiliar plot nearby the albacete station railways.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

The proposal gets presence without stridencies, with discretion.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

The building has to solve a multiuse program, it also has to be a very symbolical landmark.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

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This independent volume integration has allowed its distribution on the plot, in relation with its nearest surroundings; the highest block is situated in front of the railways, and now it’s been a referent from every point of view.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

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The rest of the blocks, lower from the first, establish a relation with the rest of the technical buildings and help to reorder the area.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

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Materials: Prefab concrete and steel in the ventilated façade.
Client: ADIF

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

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Situation: railways station, Albacete, Spain.
Author: David Moreno del Valle (Moreno del Valle Arquitectos).

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

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Collaborators: Daniel Vazquez Míguez, Arquitecto, Borja Martin Melchor, Arquitecto, Antonio Pascual Ciudad, ICCP, Jose Zamora Garcia, Aisin Simarro Levia.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Quantity surveyor: Mariano Oviedo Oviedo.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Engineers: Javier Ruiz López, Jorge Álvarez Garcia, Francisco Garcia Fernandez, Carlos Díaz Palacios

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Construction company: Thales.

Railway Control Centre by Moreno del Valle Arquitectos

Built surface: 2.031,13m²