SPLASH - or a green solution in Madrid

What can you do when your neighbour builds a high, grey wall that blocks your view? You call architect Manuel Ocaña, who'll come up with a stunning solution that resolves all your problems: Splash!



Spanish architect Manuel Ocaña with Thought Production Office and Furious Production Office has designed a project in Madrid that combines design and landscaping in a creative blend as a response to an ugly dilemma: a large 15x9-metre grey wall that blocks the view from an infinity pool and of course, from the whole garden.





Far from going with a timeworn green wall or simple hanging garden, Manuel Ocaña and his team opted for an active element that makes new inroads in residential landscaping design and more. Because Splash di Manuel Ocaña Architecture goes far beyond just adding vertical plants to a wall structure as a simple visual decoration of the disfigured context, since it reacts to light and to the climate with reflections, vegetation and misted water spray.





The Spanish architect first of all carefully studied the setting and realised that the solution would have to be independent and freestanding with respect to the wall to hide, while the size of modules could not exceed 2 x 1 metres in order to fit through the entryways into the garden. The result is SPLASH, a set of 33 structural modules that include round mirrors, slightly curved like petals to avoid glare and reflect the environment as well as to increase the perceived depth. They also include supports for the plants and the nebulisers - 60 in all - to improve the garden's microclimate.





SPLASH stands between the infinity pool and the wall, as a new spatial and vital element, something green and wet, a real attraction for birds and insects, where mirrors and mist give depth and a really unique, serene atmosphere so you're not left longing for the lost view. Here, Manuel Ocaña has created a new horizon, both literally and figuratively, because Splash opens new inroads into the concept of vertical active greenery. The only thing left is to take dive and make a SPLASH!

Christiane Bürklein

Design: Manuel Ocaña Architecture&Thought Production Office
Production: Manuel Ocaña Fast&Furious Production Office
Location: Dehesa de la Villa. Madrid. Spain
Photography: Miguel de Guzmán
Landscaping: Jorge Basarrate
Structural Consultant: JF de la Torre
Year: 2015