Redevelopment of AZCA financial center, Madrid (Spain)

AZCA has been the financial and business core of Madrid for a long time. Now, with the creation of a new CBD, the CTBA towers complex, and the predictable urban super development at the city’s north edge, the City Council plans to revitalize the AZCA area with a common spaces improvement project.

For this purpose an ideas contest was called. The first edition was closed without winners, due to a wrong response to the problems, in opinion of the city council. The second edition was closed without winners too, but 4 partial prices were granted to the projects with some proposals to take into account.

Taking these projects and mixing them, the city council will generate a definitive plan.

The following were the finalist projects:

- Cristina Parreño Alonso, Gonzalo Pardo Díaz
support: Joaquín Pardo Díaz, Mónica Bujalance Bureta, Fernando Pardo Gómez

This team proposes to clean the difference in height between the levels of the area, generating an unique level, like a “green rug”. The idea is to extend the vegetation all along the site, integrating the nature into the city and providing a great sustainable pedestrian area. This project proposes to create five great yards, giving light to the underground level spaces, using them for sports, recreation, culture and commerce.

- Abel Enguita Puebla
support team: PROINTEC, MELISSA, Edmundo Angulo abogados, Jaime Sorey Campos, Sara Diezma de La Cruz, Isaac Mateos Herrero, Daniel Montes Santamaría, Elena Navarro Martínez, Antonio Tortosa Soler, Almudena Martín Martínez

This proposal wants to eliminate the arcades and passages, highly degraded nowadays . Suggest replacing them with commercial galleries and new facilities under a new deck, that would be used as a pedestrian square connecting all the area. Furthermore, this proposal improves the accessibility from the Orense Street, in order to aid the pedestrian flux to the inner blocks. Also proposes the unification of the paving and redesign of the actual park in the middle of the site.

- Grupo LAR
consultants: Estudio Lamela, AUR, Pedro Puig-Pey Clavería, Garrigues & Andersen, KPMG, Javier Comabella

This project was elected finalist due to the exhaustive and complete analysis of the real block problems.

- Luis Alemany Indarte
support: Pablo Alemany de La Peña, José Luis García de Aguinaga Garcñia, Javier Alemany de La Peña

The idea proposed by this team plans a great park in the heart of the block, with a handful of facility buildings integrated in the new landscape, providing spaces to cultural and recreational activities.

All the given ideas represent a solid base to start the work for a complete transformation of the area, with the objective of changing it into a meeting point for the people: open, secure and sustainable.