The residential complex Modulus Matrix is a much more generic mass-timber structure characterised by strict orthogonality, regularity and repetition. Organised around a central outdoor entrance courtyard whose four corners contain stair and elevator cores, the block’s floor plan is laid out on a nearly perfect 3.6m grid of rooms on every residential floor (the concrete basement and ground floor contain infrastructural and commercial uses). With rooms that are largely indistinguishable from one another, the plan makes it difficult to ascertain how residents reach their dwellings, or even where the separations between neighbouring dwellings are situated (the only clues are openings between rooms). The gridded floor plan is truly enigmatic, inviting it to be solved much like a labyrinth in a puzzle book. This is not the case with the Modulus Matrix housing block, in which the structural material of mass-timber was the very starting point of its architectural design. More specifically, architects Peris+Toral began the architectural design process by determining and comparing the ideal structural spans of different thicknesses of CLT so that an optimised structural grid could be designed that best suits the given site and program. In Spain, CLT is relatively expensive compared to concrete and steel, putting it beyond reach of social housing budgets unless used very efficiently. The standardised, highly repetitive grid of Modulus Matrix is the product, then, of an affordability imperative. The siting and program of Modulus Matrix were addressed after the design of an optimum structural grid, requiring very creative adaptations and inventions to make the building work. This process resulted in domestic ideas such as centrally situated dining rooms containing kitchens that provide access to similarly-sized generic rooms that can be used in multiple ways. In conjunction with large doors, these enfilades of rooms allow spaces to be joined up or separated; a significant reconfiguration of traditional apartments in which differently sized rooms following a strict functional hierarchy are typically situated along lengthy corridors. The predetermined structural grid of Modulus Matrix is precisely what gave rise to this domestic reconfiguration. Only rooms containing plumbing had their functions assigned: the eat-in kitchen and the bathroom. Most dwelling units contain three generic rooms, while some contain two and others four. A dwelling with three generic rooms can have a bedroom, a living room and an office for a childless work-at-home couple; or two bedrooms and a living room for a small family; or three bedrooms for a household of room-mates (is a living room really necessary when sharing an apartment with strangers?). Four generic room units offer even more diverse scenarios of inhabitation. Modulus Matrix: Peris+Toral Arquitectes (Marta Peris, José Toral), 2021
courtesy of Peris+Toral Arquitectes
unless noted, all images: Rafael Gomez-Moriana
30 on site review 48 :: building materials
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