Designed by the Spanish office, which is also based in Berlin, this project from Nieto y Sobejano Arquitectos developes what we could consider a "social or programmatic condenser" which includes a market area, a sports centre and an activity quite opposite to the latter, a library. A large container with a very high density, similar to that of Madrid's city. A large container covered by large pieces of cast glass which provide the building with a vitreous and, we could also say, quite neutral image.
Description of project by Nieto y Sobejano Arquitectos
Density and Hybridization.
The Barceló Market area in Madrid includes public spaces, temporary buildings, and installations belonging to a same complex. Its multiple denomination -market/sports center/library- speaks of collective engagement and reveals the social condition of the program: a compact market topped by a sports pavilion framing the city, in front of which a cantilevered library rises above a schoolyard. In this way we assume the coexistence of three simultaneous conceptions (container, frame, bridge) that address structural variations (space frame, cantilever, beam) and generate different civic spaces: a covered street, an elongated plaza, and a raised terrace. In this combinatorial matrix—a balance of functional needs, structural systems, and urban spaces—resides the dense and hybrid condition that characterizes the project.
On the boundary between the historic center of Madrid and its later expansion, surrounded by historical buildings and contemporary structures, narrow streets, plazas and extensions, the market -whose interior fittings were not designed by the architects- expresses itself as an autonomous volume, located at the confluence of the Mejía Lequerica and Beneficencia streets. Separated by a narrow interior gallery-street of marked vertical proportion, the sports pavilion juts out over the market, whose roof is actually a large raised public terrace from which one sees the Madrid roofscape. The library, located on the opposite side of the longitudinal plaza, hovers over the schoolyard, to which it is attached to create a complex that is formally related to the other buildings. The geometric definition and material expression of its enclosures show that -despite their varied uses- the new buildings belong to a shared time and place. A skin formed by large pieces of cast glass -white and opaline- unifies its exterior appearance, thus lending lightness and unity to the complex.
Text.- Nieto y Sobejano Arquitectos.
CREDITS. DATA SHEET.-
Architects.- Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos. Fuensanta Nieto, Enrique Sobejano.
Project architects.- Alfredo Baladrón, Alexandra Sobral.
Collaborators.- Rocío Alonso, Iago Blanco, Rocío Domínguez, Patricia Grande, Pedro Guedes, Vanesa Manrique, Miriam Aline Lange, Heitor García Lantarón, Ernesto García Piza, Alejandro Klimowitz, Francisco Monforte, Juan Carlos Redondo, Borja Ruiz-Apilánez, Marta Torrecillas.
Site supervision.- Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos . Miguel Mesas, Guillermo Mesas.
Structural engineer.- N.B.35, S.L.. Generaia, S.L.
Mechanical engineer.- 3i Ingeniería Industrial, S.L. Arkilum S.L. (Lighting).
Façade consultant.- Ove Arup & Partners.- Fhecor Ingenieros Consultores.
Model.-Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos. Juan de Dios Hernández—Jesús Rey.
Program.- Mercado, Polideportivo y Biblioteca.
Area.- Urban project 30,300 m². Built project 43,048 m²
Project dates.- Competition: 2007. Works: 2009–14.
