Authors: Dakota Carlson and Jiangchen Zhu
Photography: Andrew Beck and Yungui Cai

We could see our breath through the early morning sun as we left the Principe Pio station. Which put us in walking distance of the kings hunting ground which is now a public park called Casa de Campo. We were also within close proximity to a new public park the Manzanares River park which is part of the Madrid Rio Project. Today we were meeting up with a local architect who works in one of the many architectural firms that worked on the 10 year long project on and along the Manzanares river which for many years was buried and channelized while the M30 highway was in its place.

Project Madrid Rio was a collaboration work of landscape architects and architects, the design team includes the Dutch office West 8 and three architecture offices: Burgos & Gariido, Porras & La Casta, Rubio & Alvarez Sala.

Today our mode of transportation was biking which for many of us was a nice change from the constant walking, and for others an opportunity to relearn. We began our bike tour at the M30 highway and Manzanares river confluence where now the Parque del rio Manzanares is. It is a massive public project to take back the space that once was dominated by cars and channelizing the Manzanares river into a public park with paths for foot and bike travel as well as plenty of space for play and leisure. The revitalization of the Manzanares river was also part of the project.

Our first stop was the confluence of the new Madrid Rio park and where the M30 highway was buried. Besides the occasional air vent to remind you that there is intensive infrastructure and fast moving vehicles underneath your feet there was no presence of the highway. Our next stop was at the first of many play areas that consisted mostly of natural cut wood sticking out of the ground at all angles. These play areas were inspired by the idea of nature play where the lack of assigning direction and meaning in a play structure increases the child’s ability to build stronger motor skills, and build a sense of imagination and creativity. While playgrounds are usually prescribed to children there was no signage saying adults could not engage in such play, and so many of us did.

We made a stop at Paseo del Embarcadero to see the old skyline of Madrid , Formed by the Royal Palace and Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena (the Cathedral), in front of us is the orchard, a great place to see the old skyline in the flowering season. On the left hand, the newer buildings create another skyline and compared with the old skyline, they are less uniform and not visually balanced.

The most inspiring thing besides all the subtle grade changes and attention to materiality was the series of bridges where 4 or 5 were designed by famous Spanish architects. The first bridge is highly structured with the crossed beams and wooden floor, it has tripod look with three exits which made it visually interesting while trying to emulate old train bridges. The second is an almost tunnel look, but dynamic in the way like we surfing under a giant wave. The steel framework wrapped around the corridor gives the steel a soft feeling like paper. The third and fourth bridge are twin bridges called shell bridge as the outlook of the bridge looks like a shell made of concrete. Inside of the shell is the mosaic artwork, the painting of the local people, including children, men, and women. There are also some restored historic bridges with ornate sculptures and granite pavers. The bridges as a series bring a lot of interest to the site as well as creating place markers through the elongated river park.

We ended the bike tour at the Matadero cultural center which was once a large slaughterhouse and is now home to local artists and cinema cafes. The cultural center occupies a large space with a large water tower on the far east corner. The distinctive red brick exterior mixed with irregular stone calls out that these buildings are from historical Madrid architecture. The revitalization of these buildings include thick dark glass windows and doors with white lettering indicating it is a cafe or artist loft.

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