The twin bridges of Matadero and Invernadero are located in the Madrid Río area, which consisted of the development and urbanisation of six kilometres of the Manzanares river banks in Madrid.
Both bridges are, by their character and flexible configuration, gateways that open onto the park and the new Matadero Contemporary Creation Centre, near which they are located. Not only do they resolve the transit between the two banks of the river, but they also form a vaulted space that floats over the river and constitute pavilions forming part of the park.
A concrete vault with a span of 40 metres as a 15 cm thick shell, from which hangs, by means of a thin curtain of cables, a deck with a minimum edge, are the elements that make up the bridge.
The construction of the bridges was highly complex. Initially, a peninsula was built on the river bed, on which a scaffolding structure was erected to support the metal structure of the deck. After concreting, a substructure was erected on which the complex formwork system for the inner face of the shell was set up. This handcrafted formwork was placed with a modular system so that it could be reused for the second bridge. The erection of the steel reinforcement was followed by the placement of the formwork on the outer face of the shell. After the concreting of the vault and the subsequent stripping of the formwork, the steel cables supporting the deck were installed. Finally, the falsework was removed from the bridge and the mosaic was installed to completely cover the inside of the shell.
The interior space is dominated, on both bridges, by a large mosaic by the artist Daniel Canogar. This transforms the crossing of the bridge into a unique experience for pedestrians and cyclists. The mosaic reinterprets the trompe l'oeil technique, characteristic of baroque churches and especially of the work of the painter Andrea Pozzo in San Ignacio in Rome, where optical effects of perspective are revealed, so that the observer feels a legion of mystical and mythological characters floating weightlessly above his or her head. Instead of mystical figures, contemporary characters appear under the vaults of the Matadero and Invernadero bridges: children, young people and the elderly, who are also real citizens, neighbours of the neighbourhoods that connect these bridges, thus linking the work to the place and its people.
