Carmen Cañadas Cestero
It is a sports and natural complex that seeks to complete and interact with the important existing architecture through vegetation and new forms.
Labyrinth at the Zoo was born from the proposal to give a different life to the current Madrid Zoo. The objective was to create a complex of popular and high-performance sports related to the countryside and nature. Currently, the Madrid Zoo is characterized by having high-value scenarios designed by the architect Javier Carvajal in 1972, for the animals themselves, and this is where this project is going to begin. The interaction with these pieces was my clear objective, the fact of taking them into account and enhancing that architecture as well as reusing them in some way.
The project arose from the idea of creating a labyrinth in the Madrid Zoo, almost literally, with the intention of creating an architecture that adapts, grows and expands, absorbing and interacting with Carvajal’s concrete pieces and with nature, but without changing it, but rather complementing it, returning natural spaces habitable by humans to the place. To carry out this idea, concrete is used as the main construction material, which blends in very well with the vegetation and, in addition, continues with the existing architectural style. With this initial rule, the different sports spaces, open or closed, where the program of uses will be organized, begin to be designed.
On the other hand, Carvajal’s stages, designed for animals, are now literally stages for humans, with different uses such as concerts, meeting points or race finishes, some surrounded by water ditches that now become pleasant sheets of water and a fresh environment. For all these new spaces, reinforced concrete will be used as the main construction material. The entire project is resolved in the same way, using vertical and horizontal planes, curves and concrete pillars, giving rise to the different spaces of the project: open, semi-open and closed.
These three types of spaces make up the entire zoo floor as if it were a very permeable mass, invading a large part of the territory of the Madrid Zoo. The open spaces are recreational areas, vegetation, gardens, stages, paths, green walks and tracks for more professional competition runners, with their finishing points, etc. The semi-open spaces are those that have roofs or walls that appear and disappear, spaces such as: covered areas for popular games, competitions, vertical walls full of vegetation marking walks or routes or simply accompanying the architecture, as well as concrete pillars with or without vegetation as an urban landscape, decorative or elements of the new landscape. Worlds that come in and out, combining full light with shady spaces.
Finally, there are the completely closed spaces, very apparently simple buildings with curved or straight walls, with concrete roofs, and pillars, only combined with glass for the entry of light and openings. These spaces house speed pools, sports shops, press rooms, sports equipment rooms, etc.
Author: Carmen Cañadas Cestero.
Website: carmenccblog.wordpress.com
Location: Madrid, Spain.
University: Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid.
Year: 2019