Madrid photos by SK

An unexpected discovery we made when visiting the famous Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid was the Palacio de Congresos de Madrid at the Paseo de la Castellana – or rather a mural on the front facade. But is it really what it looks like?  A later visit at the Reina Sofia museum gave prove of what was only an assumption that war: Yes indeed, it is a Miró work, design by the artist himself.

In 1980, the ceramist artist and friend of Miró, Josep Llorens i Artigas (1982-1980), created the mural after the original design of Joan Miró (1893-1983).

The congress building itself has been constructed in 1970 by an Spanish architect Pablo Pintado y Riba (cf. Spanish wikipedia entry).

Miró has created several ceramic murals (a short overview here). One of them can be admired in Germany, at Ludwigshafen – the BASF city:

Here, Miró’s work, his 12. mural, is decorating the southeast facade of the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, constructed between 1973-1979. With 55 x 10 m and made of 7200 tiles it is one of Miró’s biggest works (1970s). Actually it is owed to a construction mistake: the had to be heightened to +4 metres, the huge exterior thus “demanded” for artistical treatment. The founder himself, Wihlem Hack, contacted Joan Miró (more info here, German).

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By the way, as I mentioned it I don’t think I can sneak out – for all the football fans out there: voilà, the Bernabéu Stadium, the “Real” home (which is actually not very “inviting”) ;):

At the museum, Guernica appears like the Spanish Mona Lisa drawing sums of tourists to the show, thus you can’t really say that you can experience the painting – it’s more like “been there and seen that”: two guards on each side, motion sensors, safety distance of 3metres,… Nevertheless, Guernica has got one decisive advantage: it is much bigger than the Mona Lisa.

So, impressive as it is, the more interesting parts of the show can be found – and contemplated – in the adjacent rooms where the development of Guernica can be observed, the document photos shot by Dora Maar, etc.

all photos by SK (not Guernica, of course)

Back to architecture:

The Museo Reina Sofia is housed in an former hospital from the 18th century, long, high rooms, a nice patio inside. The permanent exhibition is sorted according to art movements. In 1980, the building was restored to be opened as one of the greatest and most modern art galleries in the world in 1990. Most prominent are the three steel and glass elevator towers in front of the old building, designed by José Luis Iñiguez de Onzoño and Antonio Vázquez de Castro in collaboration with British architect Ian Ritchie.

More about the museum’s history here.

In 2001, the complex got an extension constructed by Jean Nouvel – not the omnipresent Rafael Moneo. It oneed in September 2005. Thus, the museum has increased more than 60% of the old building’s surface area (51,297 square meters), now reaching 84,048 square meters. We haven’t been inside as the exhibition is presented in the old wing, while the new wing is reserved to another huge entrance area, offices, facilities, etc..

Most striking is the red auditorium which, I can’t help it, reminds me of an old Bosch fridge. (Mind you – I like these old huge things :) ).

The official website of the Museo Reina Sofia.

http://www.museoreinasofia.es/museoreinasofia/live/Museo/Historia-antecedentes_en.html

By the way, on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings, the museum offers free entrance. But apart from that, the entrance fee is an amazing 6€ / 3€ reduced!!

La CaixaForum, Madrid

La Caixa is one of Spains largest financial entity. Their foundation – the largest charitable foundation in Spain and one of the largest in the world – invests in public welfare causes.

The CaixaForum Madrid houses a permanent collection as well as several temporary exhibitions (as far as I could understand always free).

The new building was (re)constructed by no one less than Herzog & de Meuron and opened only in 2008 (inauguration 13th Feb. 2008 – seems as if I’ve just been on time!)

The new museum, situated in direct proximity of the big museums (Prado, Reina Sofia, Thyssen-Bornemisza), is actually a build-up structure on a historic electric power station. The old building was completely cored, the brickwork facade integrated into the new edifice.

It consists of four floors, a plaza and two basement floors. The upper part of the building rests on the old walls in a “tripod” way , while the remaining part “float” above the plaza. A sculptural staircase leads up into the entrance hall of the museum. Both plaza and ceiling of the underside of the “floating” part of the building are shaped with triangular planes to form a rhythmic relief.

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Most striking is the roof/upper part of the museum – shaped like enormous pinnacles or maybe the typical early-industrial factory buildings on the front, craggy from the back side, reflects the surrounding roofscape. The perforated rusty metal plates form a harsh contrast to the old brickstone facade below. They harmonise amazingly well.

More information here (German), here (Engl. – more photos, plan views, etc.) and a video of the vernissage here.

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By the way – who spotted it? In front of the building, on the righthand side is a “mur végétal” by Patrick Blanc!

Ich muss gestehen, dass ich denkbar schlecht vorbereitet losgeflogen bin (was ein “klitzekleines” Bisschen meiner Zeitnot vor der Fahrt geschuldet war – siehe hier ;) ) – soll heißen, ich habe den Reiseführer einmal querdurch geblättert und wusste, wie wir zum Hotel kommen. Vor Ort sind wir also einfach drauf los gelaufen – besser hätte es nicht sein können. Überhaupt gibt es meiner Meinung nach keine bessere Möglichkeit eine Stadt kennenzulernen, als sie zu erlaufen (das spricht natürlich nicht gegen eine U-Bahn zurück :) ).

Und Madrid lässt sich wunderbar erlaufen. Im Zentrum liegt alles recht nah beieinander. Meine interessantesten architektonischen Entdeckungen werde ich extra vorstellen. Aber ein paar Impressionen möchte ich euch hier nicht vorenthalten – und da es sich hier um einen Architekturblog handelt, werde ich keine Empfehlungen zu Paella, Tapas, Jamón und Co. geben. Obwohl ich das wirklich empfehlen kann ;-).

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Ein paar architektonische Details:

* Flughafen Madrid-Barajas, Terminal 4 von Richard Rogers und Antonio Lamela, 2005 eröffnet, 2006 mit dem Stirling Prize – dem “Oscar” der Architektur – ausgezeichnet.

Gesehen habe ich den Terminal 4 allerdings nur aus dem Flieger, da es sich um ein gesondertes Gebäude “mitten” im Flugfeld handelt. Mehr zum Terminal 4 hier und Fotografien hier.

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*Rafael Moneo (*1937) – spanischer Stararchitekt, Pritzkerpreisträger 1996, und für alle wichtigen Neu/Um/Erweiterungsbauten der letzten Jahre in Madrid verantwortlich. ;-) Den Eindruck mag man zumindest bekommen:

- Erweiterung des Prado 1996-2001 (offizielle Website des Museo del Prado)

- Erweiterung des Atocha-Fernbahnhofs 1982-1992 – bemerkesnwert vor allem die alte Bahnhofshalle im Jugendstil (1888-1892) von Alberto del Palacio Elissague, die heute als tropischer Palmengarten und Wartehalle genutzt wird.

- Erweiterung des Museums Thyssen-Bornemisza 1989-1992

(Werkübersicht bei archinform.net)

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Ansonsten zu erwähnen: der Kristallpalast im Parque de Retiro, die Erweiterung des Museo Reina Sofia von Jean Nouvel, das Caixa Forum von Herzog & de Meuron,…

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Übrigens: Vom 6. – 12. Oktober findet in Madrid eine Architecture Week statt!