Casa del Lector in Matadero, new addition to the 4th edition of Open House Madrid

Description of project by Ensamble Studio

The proposal made by Ensamble Studio maintains and enhances the original character of the group, industrial and manufacturing, by imposing a new order on existing ships. The confluence and relationship of the new system and the preexisting one forms a new space. Two levels are established, physical, perceptive and activity, which configure a changing scenario.

The upper plane, built with prestressed prestressed concrete beams weighing 52 T, is a space for research and work. In front of the basilical structure of the ships, longitudinal, light and metallic, the concrete bridges are inserted through the existing gaps and crosswise sew the space, giving unity to the set of the ships 13 and 14, until then independent buildings.

The lower plane participates, without submitting, to the rhythm set by the higher level. Dynamic and changeable, it will host cultural training and dissemination activities, allowing its future redescription.

The ship 17c houses the office area, while the Auditorium is located on the ship 17 b. The gable roof of the Auditorium is reconstructed, maintaining the original profile of nave 17b. The interior, however, is wrapped, coated and bathed in light through an arch generated by aluminum slats.

The material palette gathers the industrial tradition of the set of the Old Slaughterhouse of Madrid. Granites, steel, prefabricated concrete, dress the space.

The protected architectural complex required a surgical operation of maximum precision to preserve its external appearance and its internal structure, at the same time as incorporating the new use. The intervention raises from the beginning the consolidation of the preexisting structure, in a precarious state of stability, and the insertion of a new structure that allows the transformation of the space for the new activity respecting at all times the original structural elements.

The delicate interior metal structure and the factory perimeter wall that defined the original container, today continue to define it, and are complemented with the added structure of prefabricated concrete that clearly differs from what was previously there, preserving the memory of the place and starting a new story in it.