The interior spaces are transformed and redesigned, improving the initial conditions and seeking new sensations. The reception opens to the user with two heights generating permeability adding to the transparencies of the enclosures allowing an interior-exterior connection. At the same time, it has a garden that connects with the cafeteria that allows creating a new attractive and different space.
Description of project by BDG architecture + design
As part of its workplace transformation project for the WPP, BDG architecture + design has created an impactful and dynamic campus for WPP’s operating companies in Madrid, accommodating circa 2500 employees. The relocation to central Madrid supports WPP’s strategy to increase the diversity of their workforce and participate actively in the communities where they live and work, breathing new life into a difficult building and providing economic stimulus for the area.
The former Telefónica headquarters on Calle de Ríos Rosas, in the Chamberí neighbourhood of central Madrid, had been derelict and gloomy for the past 8 years and the welcome arrival of WPP has transformed this eyesore to a source of life, injecting into the city a much-needed dose of regenerative optimism. The building has innate assets: the largest single floor plate of any office building in the centre of Madrid, at 7,000sqm and the highest floor-to-ceiling heights, just short of 5 metres.
26 Rios Rosas is at the scale of an urban block, located in a mixed residential and commercial area. The scars from the terrorist attack in the 1980’s (by separatist group ETA purposefully targeted and bombed the telephone network) were still visible in the building fabric when BDG began to creatively reimagine this existing structure as a vibrant hub for WPP’s Madrid based companies. Each of the 30+ companies has a sense of ownership over their spaces – balancing branded and brand-neutral environments.
The most noticeable change to the public is its façade, consisting of the replacement of the 140m long North and South façades, with high quality glulam timber framed glazing to the North and minimal aluminium frames and louvres to the South, responding the a range of existing conditions and respectfully reflect the beautiful University of Madrid Mining and Energy Faculty building on the opposite side of the street.
The newly defined double-height reception, sets a tone of openness and airiness that is synonymous with the design, as well as providing a physical and visual link to the building’s 3,000sqm of split-level outdoor space. A previously unused asset, it has been transformed into a courtyard garden to the rear has been re-landscaped with species appropriate to Madrid’s altitude and harsh summer climate.
The garden has connections to a café and shared workspaces at ground floor and to the canteen, restaurant and bar spaces at lower ground level.
The project comprises the refurbishment of the existing core, and the addition of a new core, the latter has given the opportunity to add dedicated lifts to the buildings top floors, where another major transformation will take place in the form of event and conference space, a 150-person theatre and a terrace – a destination both during work hours, and outside of them.
The agility of the architecture is key and BDG’s process of robust on-site analysis with each incoming team has informed the initial arrangement, inbuilt flexibility through walls sitting below the ceiling and service grid, means that dismantling and rearranging them as required is uncomplicated, quick and minimally disruptive, thus future proofing the space.
"The triumph of this project is that an unloved building that could have been demolished has been reused and reworked, transformed into the creative heart of WPP Madrid. This has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on its occupants but also for the surrounding neighbourhood. The increased porosity of the building now invites the outside world in whilst providing a thoughtful and adaptable modern office space.”
Colin Macgadie, Chief Creative Office, BDG architecture + design.
