Architecture Gallery of Madrid
Competition. 1st Prize.
2025
Architect: Ignacio Borrego
Collaborators: Gonzalo Álvarez Brandt, Lucas Jiménez Estefanía and Pablo Martínez Collar Construction: Dypsa
Photos: Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzman + Rocio Romero)
Location: Official Council of Architects of Madrid (COAM) , C/ Hortaleza, 63
Completion date: 2025
Plot surface: 370 m2
Total budget: 60.000€
Opening 27.02.2025
Tomorrow I’ll return everything to you in the same condition so you can use it again for whatever you want.
In 2007, Andy Goldsworthy visited Madrid with the assignment to create an art installation at the Crystal Palace in El Retiro Park. He proposed to the Reina Sofía Museum the construction of several wooden domes. To this end, the artist visited the Buitrago de Lozoya area several times to select the trunks that would be part of his installation “In the Bowels of the Tree.” Some trunks had already been cut and were scattered on the ground; others were already stacked and prepared for transport and subsequent conversion into paper or particle board panels. Goldsworthy explains that none of these trees were cut specifically for the exhibition, and once it was completed, the trunks were returned and continued their original path, becoming commercial products. The exhibition had reduced its ecological footprint by borrowing its materials.
This proposal for the Architecture Gallery of Madrid offers a sustainable solution in which the materials remain in a raw, unmechanized state. The fixings are reversible and respect both the reusable materials and the Fernando García Mercadal Hall of the COAM (Official Council of Architects of Madrid), which will remain intact throughout the life of this exhibition project.
The existing exhibition elements offered in the competition rules are used to form the structure of the three exhibition modules, along with birch plywood cut into large rectangular formats that can be reused in the future for other purposes.
The assemblies are made using conventional clamps that press easily and without causing any damage or marks on the exposed concrete support. This allows the modules to be repositioned in an infinite number of display configurations.
The proposed exhibition system consists of three variations of a single hanging module that has the dimensions of the one-way structure that characterizes the hall. Each module is suspended from the reinforced concrete ribs by clamps, freeing up the entire floor and thus demonstrating its lightness and respect for the building. The three modules can accommodate vertical, horizontal, or showcase display space, and are interchangeable as they have the same dimensions.
The disassembled modules are divided into flat elements, easily transportable and storable. The room offers easy maintenance at all times by clearing the entire floor for cleaning.
The most sustainable intervention is one that is not done, and if necessary, one that is reversible and uses minimal material and energy. Recycling is desirable, but adaptability, flexibility, and reuse are priorities.