Project by Chang Cao @caoops + Xiaoyu Zhang @nancyuzz + Xinyi Kong @xinyi.kong.12
Located on the northwestern edge of Madrid, the project site sits at the intersection of the urban fabric and three major forest landscapes: Monte de El Pardo, Casa de Campo, and Valdelatas. Once shaped by royal ownership, military control, and restricted access, these forests have been preserved through exclusion and now collectively form Madrid’s northern ecological edge, serving as public recreational grounds.
In response to increasingly dense and privatized urban living, the project reinterprets these forests as a continuous ecological belt that supports alternative forms of domesticity—outdoor gathering, leisure, and interaction with nature. The intervention area, fragmented by infrastructure and suburban expansion, becomes a dynamic field where humans, wildlife, and movement overlap.
Inspired by the “dominguero,” or weekend visitor, the proposal introduces lightweight follies as temporary extensions of domestic space. Activated on weekends and relinquished to nature during weekdays, these structures enable flexible, low-impact occupation while preserving the site’s ecological integrity.
