Architect: Ignacio Borrego
Collaborators: Gonzalo Álvarez Brandt, Lucas Jiménez Estefanía and Pablo Martínez Collar
Construction: Dypsa
The Madrid Architecture Gallery at the Official College of Architects of Madrid is the result of an open competition in which the winning proposal allows for a respectful and reversible intervention.
With the motto “Tomorrow I’ll give it back to you”, everything in the same condition so that it can be reused again for whatever purpose you wish, the aim was to express its temporality and the sustainable circularity of its materials.
In 2007, Andy Goldsworthy visited Madrid with the commission to create an artistic installation at the Crystal Palace in El Retiro Park. He proposed to the Reina Sofía Museum the construction of several wooden domes. To do so, the artist visited the surroundings of Buitrago de Lozoya on several occasions to select the logs that would become part of his installation In the Belly of the Tree. Some logs had already been cut and were scattered on the ground; others were already stacked and prepared for transport and subsequent conversion into paper or engineered wood panels. Goldsworthy explains that none of these trees were cut specifically for the exhibition, and once it ended, the logs were returned and continued their original cycle, becoming commercial products. The exhibition reduced its ecological footprint by “borrowing” its materials.
This intervention for the Madrid Architecture Gallery offers a sustainable solution in which the materials remain in a raw and unprocessed state. The fixings are reversible and respect both the reusable materials and the Fernando García Mercadal Hall at the COAM, which will remain intact throughout the life of this exhibition project.
The existing exhibition elements provided in the competition brief are used to form the structure of the three exhibition modules, together 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 apply pressure in a way that allows easy disassembly without causing any damage or leaving any trace on the exposed concrete surface. This enables the repositioning of the modules in an infinite number of exhibition configurations.
The proposed exhibition system consists of three variations of a single suspended module that corresponds to the dimensions of the unidirectional structure that characterises the hall. Each module is suspended from the reinforced concrete beams using clamps, freeing the entire floor and thus expressing its lightness and respect for the building. The three modules can accommodate vertical, horizontal, or display-case exhibition spaces and are interchangeable as they share the same dimensions.
Once dismantled, the modules break down into flat elements that are easy to transport and store. The hall is at all times easy to maintain, as the entire floor remains clear for cleaning.
The most sustainable intervention is the one that is not built, and if necessary, one that is reversible and whose material and energy consumption is minimal. Recycling is desirable, but adaptability, flexibility, and reuse are priorities.
