The first project involving collaboration between Enrique López Granados, the president of CALEDONIAN, regarded as one of the most influential civil works architects working today, and Brazilian native Marcio Kogan was the CALEDONIAN SOMOSAGUAS development, five minutes from the Madrid town of Pozuelo de Alarcón and very close to Madrid’s city centre.
The urbanization was designed to function independently, with its own dedicated energy installations comprising a thermal power plant that offers energy savings of up to 80%. Its singular architectural design has been recognized by some of the most prestigious international distinctions, such as the World Architecture Festival (WAF) award in 2012 and the ABB LEAF award in 2018, among others.
Kogan is acclaimed by experts worldwide for his work, examples of which include the Decameron store in Sao Paulo, for which he won the award for best commercial building at the World Architecture Festival, and Casa Paraty, a summer house in Paraty (Rio de Janeiro) which won the Design Award in the category of Best New Private House, among others, as well as other distinctions in such prestigious competitions as the LEAF Awards, the WAF Awards, more than 20 international competitions, and nine world expositions.
As an honorary member of the AIA (American Institute of Architects) and the Board of the Museum of Art of Sao Paulo (MASP), Marcio Kogan has continued to collaborate with CALEDONIAN on other joint projects such as CONCEPT VALDEMARÍN, in Aravaca (Madrid); ALTOS DEL HIPÓDROMO II, also in Aravaca; JAVIER FERRERO, on the eponymous street at the heart of Ciudad Jardín, in the centre of Madrid; CORTESÍN, in the Finca Cortesín complex between Marbella (Malaga) and Sotogrande (Cadiz) and finally CALEDONIAN’s first office building project which will house the company’s head office, among others.
This collaborative process of engineering, architecture and design has resulted in new and prestigious awards and universal commendations: twice a finalist at the World Architecture Festival; a finalist at the AZ Awards; honorary mention at the German Design Awards; winner of the first prize given by the Brazilian Institute of Architects; winner of the LEAF Award for Best Residential Building; and two LEED certificates (Gold and Menvionaria), among others.
Marcio Kogan’s operational hub, StudioMK27, the architectural practice he founded, is the source of all the ideas for the various joint projects with CALEDONIAN, and where another of the key figures behind the success of the Madrid-based developer, builder and real estate company also works: the director of StudioMK27, Suzana Glogowski.
Glogowski is credited with co-designing several of the works that have turned the practice founded by Kogan into one of the most prestigious in the world: Quinta House (2004), Laranjeiras House (2008), Osler House (2009), Paraty House (2009), Bahia House (2010), Studio SC (2011), Cube House (2012) and L House (2013), all in different locations in Brazil, plus L’and Vineyards Hotel in Portugal (2011), Punta House in Uruguay (2011) and, naturally, CALEDONIAN SOMOSAGUAS (2017) and the other joint projects with CALEDONIAN.
Another of the aspects for which the creations of StudioMK27, of Marcio Kogan and Suzana Glogowski, stand out, which is evident in each and every one of CALEDONIAN’s developments, is the overlap effect of garden areas with the dwellings’ interiors, in their determination to give a more prominent role to nature by “inviting” it into every room in the house.
In this respect, the work of the Brazilian landscape architect Isabel Duprat is really gaining momentum. Her name is featured in “Women Garden Designers – 1900 to Present” (Garden Art Press, 2015), a book by Kristina Taylor that features 31 of the most influential garden designers from around the world.
Some of the projects created by her own studio include: the Bankboston corporate building (the current headquarters of Nestlé), the Luz Cultural Complex project developed with Herzog & de Meuron Architects, the gardens of the Iguatemi JK Shopping Mall, the head office of Banco Santander in Sao Paulo, the head offices of Rede Globo in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the public square of the World Trade Center in Montevideo (Uruguay), and, of course, all the projects that CALEDONIAN has undertaken in Spain in conjunction with StudioMK27, among many others.
This Hispano-Brazilian collaboration has brought to our country a type of minimalist, “natural” construction, sustainable and self-sufficient design, and a level of lighting, acoustic and structural comfort that would not otherwise have been possible. The acclaimed achievements of all CALEDONIAN’s partners promise to continue creating amazing residential and business projects to delight their future tenants.
