Leganés Auto Center Madrid building design, Spanish car sales property design, Mediterranean architecture photos

Leganés Auto Center Madrid Building News

16 April 2026

Studio: OOIIO Architecture

Location: Madrid, Spain

Photos by Javier de Paz

Leganés Auto Center Madrid, Spain

Creativity is not the exclusive territory of iconic public buildings or dream homes. It is a powerful tool capable of transforming even the most utilitarian architecture—industrial buildings included. This conviction guided architecture studio OOIIO when a business owner commissioned them to design a large facility for the sale and repair of automobiles in an industrial park in Leganés, within Greater Madrid.

The brief for the Leganés Auto Center was demanding: a large commercial showroom, offices, mechanical and bodywork workshops, and extensive storage for hundreds of vehicles, all while accommodating the constant circulation of cars throughout the building. Adding to the challenge, the site already contained an abandoned industrial structure—a former kitchen factory unused for years.

Projects of this nature are typically handled by engineering firms, favoring predictable, purely functional solutions. Rarely are they entrusted to architecture studios with a strong creative identity. A walk through any industrial park reveals how little attention is usually paid to architectural expression, materiality, or the capacity of these buildings to generate emotion. This project stands apart as a rare exception within the world of automotive architecture.

As Le Corbusier observed, a building—even an industrial one—can be understood as a machine in which every element must perform with precision. Like a car, it must function flawlessly, prioritizing efficiency and performance. But it must also communicate identity and provoke emotion. Automotive brands have long understood this duality, carefully shaping the experiences their products deliver. Here, that same logic is translated into architecture.

The project’s defining decision was to retain and repurpose the existing industrial structure rather than demolish it. This choice represents a significantly more sustainable approach, avoiding unnecessary waste and giving new life to an obsolete building. A former kitchen factory becomes, through adaptation, a contemporary hub for car sales and repair.

Functionally, the ground floor houses the showroom and workshops, while the upper floors are dedicated to vehicle storage. The existing structure was reinforced to support the increased loads, and the original roof was replaced with an additional storage level shaded by photovoltaic pergolas. These generate enough energy not only to supply the building itself, but also to contribute to the surrounding area.

Large circulation ramps run along both sides of the building, organizing vehicle movement and coexisting with customer routes on the ground floor. Offices are located on the first floor, completing the functional program with clarity and efficiency.

The original building’s closed brick façade offered no insulation and little presence. The redesign radically redefines the relationship between interior and exterior. Upper storage levels remain naturally ventilated and unconditioned, while energy use is concentrated exclusively on the ground floor, where people work and interact.

The new façade becomes the project’s most distinctive element. White metal slats of varying sizes, mounted on a mint-green substructure, wrap the building’s perimeter and integrate the chimneys and ventilation ducts required by the workshops below. By exposing these technical elements, the design embraces and amplifies the building’s industrial character, while freeing interior space for vehicle circulation.

This envelope transforms the building into a bold container for cars, standing out within the uniform landscape of the industrial park through rhythm, texture, and color. The vertical slats recall the banners of car dealerships, drawing attention while performing a crucial environmental role. They provide passive solar control, reducing energy demand and allowing natural cross-ventilation to cool the upper levels—even during Madrid’s hottest summers—without mechanical systems.

Energy efficiency, adaptive reuse, passive climate strategies, rainwater harvesting for car washing, and a strong architectural identity come together in a single project. This building demonstrates that industrial architecture can be efficient, sustainable, and expressive at the same time.

Another kind of industrial building is possible.

Products and Brands
expanded metal façade — Siwell\www.siwell.es
exterior lighting — Disano\www.disano.it
SATE opaque façade cladding (car workshop area) — Baumit\www.baumit.es
Nickel ceramic flooring, Cementum Collection (commercial area) , Nero ceramic tiles, Luz Collection (ground floor vehicle delivery area), Luz Collection ceramic tiles (first floor bathrooms), Azzurro Polvere ceramic tiles, Luz Collection (first floor office) — Marazzi\www.marazzi.es
Metallic, White and Green ceramic tiles (ground floor bathrooms) — Aparici\www.aparici.com
ceramic tiles (workshop changing rooms) — Vilar Álbaro\www.ceramicacva.com
faucets — Imex\www.imexproducts.es
sanitary ware and toilets — Grupo Fossil Natura\www.fossilnatura.com

Leganés Auto Center in Madrid, Spain – Building Information

Studio: OOIIO Architecture – https://ooiio.com/

Author: Joaquín Millán Villamuelas
Contact E-mail: press@ooiio.com
Social media: www.instagram.com/ooiio.architecture
www.facebook.com/ooiio.architecture
www.linkedin.com/company/ooiio-architecture
www.youtube.com/@ooiioarquitectura264
Studio address: Paseo de San Illán nº47, local derecho, 28019 Madrid, Spain
Design team: Candela Bonilla Moreno, Federica Aridon Mamolar, Ximena Zenteno Ladrón de Guevara

Project location: C. Bastidor, Leganés, Madrid, Spain

Project year: 2021
Completion year: 2025
Gross floor area: 11 514 sqm

Collaborators and suppliers
Carpentry and integrated furniture – commercial area: Aureo Design Wood, www.aureo-designwood.com
Curtains – vehicle delivery area: La Casita Azul, www.lacasitaazulinteriorismo.es

About studio / author
OOIIO Architecture was founded in 2010, during a socioeconomic context marked by constant crisis. Since then, the studio has faced challenges such as the financial crisis, the pandemic, shortages of raw materials, climate change, and geopolitical tensions. Throughout these years, the only predictable factor has been uncertainty and the lack of security for a stable future.

OOIIO has embraced this state of perpetual change with optimism. The studio does not seek to control or reverse it, nor does it surrender to it. For OOIIO, accepting the crisis does not mean creating austere or puritanical architecture; rather, it means intelligently and maturely adapting to new conditions: smaller projects, limited budgets, and clients with a moderate interest in architecture.

OOIIO has learned to practice architecture in times of crisis, and from seemingly modest commissions, the studio elevates its work beyond expectations by leveraging its knowledge of various architectural techniques. With humility and adaptability, OOIIO reclaims the architect’s role as a leader in the construction process, seizing every opportunity, no matter how small, to create architecture.

This attitude, key to OOIIO’s success, has allowed it to emerge, survive, and thrive in a challenging environment for architectural practice. In each project, the studio explores, experiments, and opens new paths. Architecture does not have a single place or form; it exists wherever there is an opportunity. OOIIO’s mission is to remain attentive to every stimulus that can enrich each work and project.

About Joaquín Millán Villamuelas
Joaquín Millán Villamuelas, architect from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM), began his professional career at some of the most prestigious architecture firms in the contemporary international scene, including those of Norman Foster in London and Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam. In 2010, he founded OOIIO Architecture, conceived as a laboratory for Architecture and the City, focused on creating spaces of quality and uniqueness in every project.

Joaquín leads the work at OOIIO with an emotion-centred approach. His vision is to guide clients on a journey through their dreams, arriving at surprising and original solutions, always supported by the power of imagination and a precise mastery of aesthetics. His main tools are light, form, and the expressive capabilities of materials and their colours.

OOIIO, which stands out for its practical approach to project execution, has successfully maintained a solid production over the years with proposals that are both realistic and innovative. The concepts defining OOIIO’s philosophy are reflected in tangible work that has been successfully executed and recognized internationally. His work has been exhibited, awarded, and published in numerous specialised magazines, books, and blogs.

Joaquín has also shared his experience at various exhibitions, conferences, and seminars, participating in events in cities such as Arequipa, Barcelona, Cuenca (Ecuador), Kyiv, Guadalajara, Madrid, Milan, Pavia, Sarajevo, Toledo, Valencia, Warsaw, and Vitoria, among others.