Clesa Transformation

Supporting Lucía Bentué and Elisa Pozo, the architects leading mita atelier, in the Clesa Factory rehabilitation competition was a particularly inspiring experience. As a young practice—both architects are under 40—their proposal stood shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the most renowned firms in the international architectural scene, proving that fresh perspective and rigor aren’t bound by tenure.

Intervening in a work by Alejandro de la Sota is perhaps one of the greatest challenges an architect in Spain can face. The Clesa factory is the banner of Madrid’s modern movement, and after years of neglect, the competition sought a vision that could reactivate it as an innovation hub without compromising its radical constructive honesty.

What made Lucía and Elisa’s proposal stand out against competitors with decades of experience was their ability to inhabit the concrete giant with a light touch. Their project didn’t seek to overshadow Sota; instead, it complemented his work through absolute flexibility and a human scale that returned the factory to the people in a contemporary, vibrant way.

Our goal was to provide that vision with the visual impact required to compete at the highest level. We crafted the imagery to capture this symbiosis: Sota’s massive structure coexisting with the vitality and light of mita atelier’s new intervention.

We wanted the jury to feel that the future of Clesa was in the right hands. Helping a young studio project such a mature and solid vision onto an icon of this magnitude was, without a doubt, a privilege for us.