The studio of the architect Héctor Fernández Elorza has been the winner of the proposal for the project to adapt and improve the access and reception areas of the CentroCentro Operations Patio (Palacio de Cibeles) as a space for reception, information, and participation.

The proposal aims to intensify the reception, information, and participation functions through a diverse zoning strategy. The project clarifies the interior organization of the Patio, as well as the inclusion of furniture and hanging elements that illuminate, multiply the versatility of the space, facilitate exchange, and provide information support.
The project by Héctor Fernández Elorza is respectful of the Telecommunications Palace through a series of interventions that value the scale, color, materials, and light existing in the building.

To provide the Patio of Operations with a new activity, originally projected by Antonio Palacios and Joaquín Otamendi, where a constantly changing program is superimposed, which will turn the Center into a cultural reference for the city of Madrid.
 

Description of project by Héctor Fernández Elorza

Colgando del Centro is the result of a public competition called by Madrid City Council (Madrid Destino) in order to adapt the existing Operations Court of Cibeles Palace as a new public space for the city of Madrid. Therefore, the project consists of a number of interventions inside the old Telecommunications Palace, built at the beginning of the 20th century as the Post Office by Antonio Palacios and Joaquín Otamendi. Today it serves as the home of CentroCentro cultural space.

The historical context of the project conditioned the nature of the intervention, turning the proposal into a reversible intervention, without affecting any original structural element. In addition, it is mainly a mobile construction, so it would be possible to hide its main elements and furniture when necessary, thus creating a slight modification on the current morphology of the Operations Courtyard.

The goal of the project was to intensify the reception, information and participation functions through a new zoning strategy that clarifies the interior organization of the Courtyard. In order to implement this design strategy, we included new furniture pieces and hanging structures that illuminate, multiply the versatility of the space and facilitate the exchange of information.

The proposal includes the following interventions:

Access: Due to the monumental nature of the building and its facade, the project was understood as a gateway, not only to CentroCentro, but to the city of Madrid. Therefore, we proposed a new entrance gateway that allows solving the serious problem of loss of climatic comfort that the previous system produced in the building. Additionally, it frees up the entrance hall to the building without losing or substantially modifying the exterior view of the Palace. 

The new access consists of three stainless steel bodies and interior glass doors that allow the visual and transparent connection between the Center and the city. The central body allows entry through a revolving door and the sides work as emergency exits.

Information desk: The new information point is located right in the center of the cultural center and opposite the new access. This circular information desk works as an information point for tourists both for CentroCentro and the city Madrid. Its hanging lighting structure serves as a claim both from the inside and the outside of the building.

Central nave: The Operations Courtyard space is divides into three naves. Its monumental scale creates an infinite number of possibilities in terms of its program. One of the main features of the projects is the system of curtains and lighting that we proposed for this nave. They work as a hanging structure suspended form the original steel structure of the building. This system allows to configure new domestic spaces within its central nave. The new structure could host events ranging from a townhall meeting, a workshop for children, to a larger venue like a conference or institutional gatherings.

Resting and working areas: The three naves are surrounded by smaller-scale ambulatory spaces. This perimeter limits with a line of historical counters that were originally used as the Post Office desks. The project turns these counters into the storage space for the new furniture pieces. 

Shop: We have relocated the store space and redesigned its furniture following the same principles as in the rest of the project. It combines both fixed counters and mobile furniture pieces, which can be distributed throughout the Operations Court.

Gloria Fuertes Room: A new space for the public that supports the activities of CentroCentro.

Signage: Following the main idea of the project, we designed new elements of signage and information of the building through hanging structures from the steel structure of the existing building. 

In conclusion, the project aims to be a respectful intervention inside the historical Telecommunications Palace through a series of actions that give value to the scale, color, materials and light of the existing building. Colgando del Centro aims to provide the building with a new changing and attractive program of activities, turning this Center into a reference point for the city of Madrid. 

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Architects
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Collaborators
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Architects.- Violeta Ordoñez Manjón, Javier Estebala Alández, Mireia Carrasco Ferri, Guillermo Pozo Arribas, Ismael López Portilla, Javier Moraleda Perulero, María Risueño Domínguez. Technical architect.- Ignacio Delgado Conde.
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Client
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Madrid Destino.
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Area
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2200 sqm.
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Budget
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€ 715,000.
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Dates
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Competition.- 2016. Project.- 2018. Start of Work.- January 2019. End of Work.- November 2019.
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Location
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Palacio de Cibeles. Plaza de Cibeles, 1 28014. Madrid, Spain.
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Photography
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Héctor Fernández Elorza was born in Zaragoza (Spain) in 1972. Architect degree at Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, ETSAM, in 1998 where he, since 2001, is Lecturing Professor in Architectural Projects.

He was awarded the scholarship from the EU-exchange program at Darmstadt Institute of Technology in 1995 and1996 and at Technical Royal Institute of Stockholm, KTH in 1997 and 1998. His postgraduate studies were continued in Scandinavia, awarded grant by the Marghit and Folke Perzhon Foundation in 1999 and 2000. This period was dedicated to his PhD research at the Architectural Museum Archive in Stockholm and the Alvar Aalto Foundation in Helsinki. The Ph.D. studies have being finalized in 2014 at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid ,ETSAM, with the Doctoral Thesis named “Asplund vs. Lewerentz”.

He has been Visiting Professor and Lecturer at the following Schools of Architecture: Escuela de Arquitectura de Zaragoza and ETSAB-Barcelona (Spain), Universitá Di Roma “La Sapienza", Politenico di Milano and Siracusa (Italy), Architecture Nordostniedersachsen Universität Hamburg and Fachhochschule Köln (Germany), NTNU University in Trondheim (Norway), Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole in Copenhague (Denmark), KTH University in Stockholm (Sweden), University of Innsbruck (Austria), Universidad Católica de Rio de Janeiro (Brasil), University of Belgrade (Serbia), University of Budapest (Hungary), Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst in Brussels (Belgium), the Royal Institute of British Architects-RIBA in Londres (England), and the University of Texas in Dallas and Cooper Union University in New York (United States of America).

Awarded the Second Prize in the International Competition “Louis Poulsen”, Copenhague,1999; First Prize in the Competition “The House of the Third Millennium” Cantú, (Italia), 1999; Second Prize in the Competition “Karhus”, Stockholm, 2000; Finalist in the Competition “Leca-Mur”, Linköping, (Sweden), 2000; Fourth Prize in the Competition “Stockholm Bostader”, Stockholm, 2000. His work "Architectural Documentation Centre in Madrid" was awarded: First Prize in the AR+D PRIZE from the British Architecture Association, RIBA, Finalist in the ENOR PRIZE 2005, Finalist in the COSENZA PRIZE 2005, First Prize in SALONI PRIZE 2005 and Finalist in BIENAL DE ARQUITECTURA ESPAÑOLA 2005. Finalist in the GARCIA MERCADAL PRIZES 2007, 2011 and 2012 with the Urban Project “Zuera Sur”, "Valdefierro´s Park" and "Twin squares" in Zaragoza; Second Prize in the Competition “The old town of Belchite”, 2009. His work Chemical Laboratory Building in Alcala University was awarded First Prize in the ATEG-PRIZE 2010, Second Prize in the BIGMAT PRIZE 2011 and First Prize in the ENOR-MADRID AWARD 2012. In 2014 he was awarded with the DESIGN VANGUARD for emerging architects by the magazine Architectural Record.

In 2000 and 2012 he participated at the Biennale di Architecture di Venezia.

The Research project "Stockholm Universal Exposition of 1930" and its publication catalogue, for the Exposition "Arquitecturas Ausentes del siglo XX" was coordinated by him during 2000-2005. In 2010 and 2011 he has been Curator of the International Architectural Congress “Cien años aprendiendo de Roma” and "Architettura e Resistenza" in the Spanish Academy in Rome.

During 2011 y 2012 he has been co-director of Madrid Ceramic Tile Studies Department.

As practicing architect among his works he has projected and built the Mausoleum for the oceanografist Odón de Buen, the San Juan district in Zuera the Main square of Cuarte, (Zaragoza); the Auditorium and Documentation Centre of Contemporary Architecture in “Nuevos Ministerios” (Madrid); the Riding School in Oros Alto, (Huesca); the Agricultural park, Valdefierro´s park (Zaragoza); the Cultural buildings in Jarandilla de la Vera, (Cáceres) and San Esteban del Valle, (Ávila); the Chemical Laboratory Building and Genetic Faculty at the University of Alcalá (Madrid); Venecia Park and Twin squares (Zaragoza); Sotogrande Sailing School (Cádiz), an currently won and developing Casa Mahou, the renovation of the Palace of Duke of Infantado for the brewing company Mahou San Miguel in Madrid.

Author and co-author of the following books: E. G. Asplund, Exposición de Estocolmo 1930; Por si nos encontramos; Piedra , papel y tijera; Essays on Architecture and Ceramics; Babelia; Pensar con las manos and Materia y material, La ortografía del espacio y el alfabeto de la estructura; Cuaderno de viaje; Chicago-Nueva York, Arqueología Contemporánea, La Vuelta al Mundo en Ochenta Días, Madrid/Tokio, Sicilia and Vivir. His work has been showed widely in Spain and abroad.

During 2009 y 2010 he has been awarded the ROMA PRIZE in the Spanish Academy in Rome.
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