Tourist Information Pavilions by José Manuel Sanz Arquitectos + Irene Brea

Description of the project by José Manuel Sanz Arquitectos

The tourist information devices are situated in different strategic places along the city:

Plaza del Callao, Paseo de Recoletos, Museo del Prado, Museo Nacional Reina Sofía  and in Paseo de la Castellana avenue, close to Santiago Bernabeu´s stadium.

Designed as special pieces in the urban city structure, these five small pavilions are situated within some of the most cultural and commercial city areas. Offering information, as well as different touristic products (ticketing, etc ), the pieces have been created  using the last available technology.

Pretending to be recognizable pieces, the devices are as well adaptable to different urban situations.

Each one has three different attention points where the services are offered. Parting from this point, these necessities generate the possibility of making three different spaces according to the different functions needed. Thus, the pavilion is configured as a clover ground floor which, in fact, is the one that offers the biggest possible perimeter. At the same time, the division of the roof geometry in two different planes makes an indispensable shadow area created for the raining and hot days.

To the end of including the pieces within the visual city structure, the pieces have been thought following principles of transparency and visual lightness. From the interior, the workers can feel they are, in fact, in an exterior space and, therefore visually included in the city.

The object is prefabricated, mounted and assembled in a short period of time, being its structure an ensemble of metallic tubes and screwed structural profiles. All the rest constructive elements are either fixed directly to this main structure, or to different substructures arising out of the main one. The support on the ground it is made through adjustable elements which permit the object adaptation to different places. The rain water is collected in the roof, driven through an interior object´s tube and finally directly dewatered to the street.