MATADERO MADRID CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY CREATION Architecture

Matadero Madrid has become, in a few short years, part of the characteristic landscapes of Madrid

A NEW ARCHITECTURE
MATADERO MADRID
Experimentation, reversibility, balance

Matadero Madrid occupies part of the splendid complex of pavilions designed by Luis Bellido at the beginning of the 20th century: 48 buildings and 165,415 m2 of land that served as the city of Madrid’s industrial slaughterhouse and livestock market until 1995. Along with Madrid Río, this centre for contemporary artistic creation and its promotion houses a number of examples of what has become known as “Nueva Arquitectura Madrileña”, or New Madrilenian Architecture.

In 2005, when permission was granted to give the complex a cultural use, under the direction of the Arts Department of the Madrid City Council, work began on new projects whose fundamental premise was to preserve the architectural exterior of the different buildings referred to as Naves. Without in any way conflicting with that premise, the centre became an architectural testing ground and, to allow the buildings to be returned to their original state, the reversibility of the work was one of its guiding principles.

The interventions specifically retained traces of the past to reinforce the experimental nature of the new institutions that were to be housed there. To this end, a balance was sought between maximum respect for the heritage site and, through the limited use of directly industrial materials, specific amenities that would differentiate it and at the same time serve the various purposes of the Centre for Contemporary Creation. Judging by the results and the recognition and interest it has aroused beyond our borders, the decision seems to have been a wise one. 

In 2013, architects Langarita and Navarro received the Emerging Architect Special Mention from the Mies van der Rohe Awards, quite possibly Europe’s most prestigious awards, for their design of Nave 15, which used to be known as the Nave de la Música. It is currently being refurbished to house the Centre's artistic residencies. In 2013, the Cineteca Film Archive, by Churtichaga-Quadra Salcedo, received the Award of the Spanish Biennial of Architecture in the section of reconversion and reuse of buildings. In 2018, the rehabilitation of Nave 17C-Intermediae by Arturo Franco Díaz and Fabrice Van Teslaar received the COAM +10 award, for buildings that remain emblematic after ten years. In 2012, two of the interventions -Nave 15 and Nave 16- were finalists of the FAD Architecture Awards.

After the visit by the jury of the FAD to Matadero Madrid, it was decided to collectively recognise the work of all the architects who had participated in the renovation process.

The decision values “both the overall attitude of the project, which is courageously committed to experimentation and respect for spaces of freedom managed by civil society, and the conceptualisation of the project, from its beginning in 2007 with the rehabilitation of the entrance and the Intermediae space, to the recent work on Nave 16 and Nave 15, finalists in the current edition of the FAD Awards”.

The jury also highlighted Matadero Madrid’s “collective intelligence, the unity inferred from the existing industrial architecture, and the fact that, whilst the new interventions had made a minimal impact on the outside, on the inside they have resolved the diverse needs of the centre’s extensive programme with rigour and authenticity, seeking not only to maintain the architectural spaces and the structural forms, but also the character, atmosphere and, above all, the inimitable passage of time.”

Also in 2012, the Official College of Architects of Madrid awarded one of their COAM prizes to Cineteca (Film Archive) and Archivo Documenta (Documentary Archive), and to Nave 16, all at Matadero Madrid. Finally, worthy of note is the interconnection between Matadero Madrid and Madrid Río through the urban planning of public spaces – Calle Matadero and Plaza Matadero- by the same team of architects -Ginés Garrido, Carlos Rubio and Fernando Porras- that designed Madrid Río.

Madrid Río has received, among other awards, the International Architecture Award 2012 from the Chicago Athenaeum of Architecture and Design together with the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, the Urban Design and Landscaping Award granted by the International Committee of Architectural Critics (CICA), as part of the 13th Buenos Aires Biennial, and the 2012 FAD City and Landscape Award, among many others.

INTERMEDIAE, ENTRANCE HALL AND INFORMATION POINT
MATADERO MADRID

Intermediae

Architect: Arturo Franco
Year unveiled: 2007

The architects Arturo Franco and Fabrice Van Teslaar, collaborating with interior architect Diego Castellanos, are the authors of the renovation of the entrance hall (Paseo de la Chopera, 14) and the Intermediae space, in which iron and glass are the most prominent materials.

Intermediae occupies an area of 2,700m2 divided into several spaces: two open-plan Naves, the terrarium, the Avant Garden and Estación Futuro (Future Station). The project explored the possibilities of rehabilitating the building despite the ruinous condition it was in and provided a new perspective on how to restore a historical heritage site in a way that reduces the need for intervention to the bare minimum. The basic concept behind the project was the search for balance between respect for the identity of the place itself and the addition of new elements needed to effectively transform it into a space destined to a new use. For this reason, the only industrial materials chosen were ones that could be used directly without practically any manipulation. The intervention won the Building Rehabilitation Award in the 21st edition of the Madrid City Council’s 2006 Urban Planning, Architecture and Public Works Awards, and in 2018 it received the COAM +10 Award.

Intermediae
NAVE 0
MATADERO MADRID

Nave 0

No Intervention
Year unveiled: 2007

With a rectangular floor plan and covering an area of 881m2, the former cold room of the municipal slaughterhouse retains its original hydraulic tile flooring. The architectural layout of the nave is made up of 36 reinforced concrete pillars in 4 rows, dividing the space into five naves. Supported by the pillars of the central nave, 9 horseshoe arches hold up a brick vaulted ceiling. It still retains its original appearance and traces of a fire that broke out in the 1990s. With a minimal project designed to conserve and consolidate the elements, the intimate nature of this space has been kept intact, with its characteristic open-plan structure featuring flying buttresses and columns.

Nave 0
CENTRAL DE DISEÑO
MATADERO MADRID

Central de Diseño

Architect: José Antonio García Roldán
Year unveiled: 2007

The project undertaken at the Central de Diseño involved maintaining the strength of the constructive decomposition of the elements by incorporating recycled and recyclable materials: removable polycarbonate for the illuminated wall, industrial sheets made from recycled car bumpers on the floor, galvanised iron and glass. This L-shape complex regularly hosts exhibitions, festivals and workshops and its different spaces also include a classroom, an office space, and a storage space.

Central de Diseño
NAVES DEL ESPAÑOL EN MATADERO
MATADERO MADRID

Naves del Español

Architects: Emilio Esteras, Justo Benito
Year unveiled: 2007

This performing arts complex that covers 5,900m2 (Nave 11 and Nave 12), is the result of the interdisciplinary collaboration between theatre director Mario Gas, set designer Jean Guy Lecat (who has worked with Peter Brook to transform all manner of locations - a gas tower, a quarry, an abandoned factory- into unusual stage spaces), technical set designer Francisco Fontanals, and municipal architect Emilio Esteras.

The project, guided by the principles of reversibility, flexibility and versatility, made it possible to endow the space with multiple stage configurations, introducing new elements and materials (polycarbonate and a scaffold structure) that are juxtaposed to the existing ones and allow a clear reading of the work being presented. The rehearsal rooms of Nave 10 were designed by architect Justo Benito and added to the stage complex in 2009-2010.

Naves del Español
THE WORKSHOP & COORDINATION OFFICE
MATADERO MADRID

Workshop & Office

Architect: Arturo Franco
Year unveiled: 2010

This Nave comprises a multi-purpose space on the upper level (El Taller - The Workshop) and an office on the ground floor occupied by the Matadero programming and managing team. The work carried out in this area respected its pre-existing spatial configuration adding only a few new elements. The interior spaces were fitted out with rows of repurposed flat roof tiles from a roof in poor condition; the original tile roof was replaced and the unit structurally reinforced by finishing the interior with recovered wood beams. The most innovative feature is the fact that this is also a bioclimatic project, because on the one hand, the tiles make the building more thermally, acoustically and sustainably comfortable, and on the other hand, the building itself has been reinvented with elements borrowed from its surroundings.

Taller
PLAZA & CALLE MATADERO
MATADERO MADRID

Plaza & Calle Matadero

Architects: Ginés Garrido, Carlos Rubio and Fernando Porras
Year unveiled: 2011

Matadero not only has unique buildings: the space between the naves is also interesting because of its size and urban quality. Located between the naves at Matadero Madrid, these two spaces, Plaza and Calle, function as the great agora and forum of the cultural centre. Open to the public, the two areas articulate the distribution of the different institutions that coexist at Matadero, allowing access from different locations: Plaza de Legazpi, Paseo de la Chopera, Arganzuela District Council and Madrid Río.

Calle Matadero is designed as a cobblestone, pedestrian-only street with granite pavements on different levels, ideal for seasonal outdoor activities. Plaza Matadero is designed as a large, empty and treeless space, unlike any other in the city of Madrid. It has become the Centre’s iconic venue for large-scale outdoor activities, concerts, festivals and markets.

In 2012, Andrés Jaque Arquitectos proposed a spectacular mobile structure named Escaravox for the Plaza. Built on mobile irrigation systems used on farms, this structure served for several years as a stage, a playground, a rest area, a sound system and a projection screen.

Plaza Matadero
NAVE 16
MATADERO MADRID

Nave 16

Architects: Alejandro Virseda, José Ignacio Carnicero and Ignacio Vila Almazán
Year unveiled: 2011

Nave 16 is a versatile space covering more than 4,000 m2 that can be easily split into separate modules divided by large steel panels. The architectural project transformed the Nave into a multipurpose space that is in fact the largest venue in Madrid for exhibitions, installations or similar activities. It also contains a number of smaller independent spaces (as many as 5 rooms).

This flexibility was achieved by adding two-tier metal doors that contrast with the tectonic and timeless character of the nave. The versatility of the interior space is guaranteed by the doors which can be turned around very simply. They also provide the space with light and environmental versatility depending on the nature of the activity taking place. The material used to make these doors is steel, whose chromatic quality contrasts with the surface of the building’s shell. It is when the doors are opened that this shell reveals its characteristic structure of thin metal profiles.

Nave 16
WATER TANK & LEGAZPI ACCESS
MATADERO MADRID

Water Tank

Architects: BCP Ingenieros (Luis Benito Olmeda and Francisco Calderón), María Langarita and Víctor Navarro
Year unveiled: 2011

The water tower was restored and structurally consolidated not so that it might recover its original function, but rather its spirit as a catalyst and as a point of connection between the different buildings of the complex that today make up the old Municipal Slaughterhouse, endowing it with a new use, both to store water in its tank and to turn it into a visual landmark that communicates the existence of the cultural centre. A new lighting system, the lettering on the tank and its conversion into a reception area are the elements that define this public entrance to Matadero from Legazpi. The tank houses a garden of selected plants in an area designed for rest and enjoyment located between the pillars of the shaft.

Depósito
CINETECA, FILM ARCHIVE AND CANTINA
MATADERO MADRID

Cineteca

Architects: José María Churtichaga and Cayetana de la Quadra Salcedo
Year unveiled: 2011

The intervention carried out in Cineteca Madrid, which occupies a space of 2,688 m2, conserved the existing spatial structure, distributed into five separate spaces: two cinema halls, a film set, an archive, a canteen and a terrace that can be used for screenings. The old and the new coexist in a sombre atmosphere in which artificial LED lights and projected images are fundamental elements. Worthy of note within the complex are the baskets woven from garden hoses that are designed as luminescent elements that throw light on the ceilings of the cinema halls and the archive.

Cineteca Madrid
CASA DEL LECTOR
MATADERO MADRID

Casa del Lector

Architect: Antón García Abril
Year unveiled: 2012

The essential aim of this architectural project is to connect people, both the general public and professionals, and also ideas, spaces and places. Nave 13 and Nave 14 are longitudinally and transversely connected by prestressed concrete beam bridges that allow the two structures to meet one another. Casa del Lector, with its more than 8,000 square meters, hosts literary events ranging from print media to the new communication formats, from the linguistic to the audiovisual, with particular emphasis on the role played by new technologies and media. In order to carry out its activities, the Casa del Lector has training rooms, a library and consultation area, workshops, inspiring reading rooms, radio and TV sets, an exhibition hall, and an auditorium for 300 people.

Casa del Lector