From the outset of this project, the
powerful and ominous open spaces of the former El Aguila brewery, by then
unknown to the public, were the driving force for the arrangement of the
different activities. This was carried out through the construction of voids,
interfaces and expansions of surfaces as part of an effort to visualise an
exterior space which modernism had regarded as a mere void. The space between
the buildings has thus become the defining element, upgrading multiple
itineraries, planes of activity and information and changing the linear nature
of the complex as a whole by establishing invisible links between the different
constructions with their industrial scale and materials.
The Madrid Regional Government Archives and Library in the former El Águila brewery is a centre for the preservation, custody and dissemination of the Region’s historic documentary heritage, ultimately aimed at ensuring the transparency of administrative processes and citizen’s rights. The construction, an extension of the Paseo del Prado cultural axis, is part of the political desire to open Madrid to the south and the cultural desire to safeguard the remains of the city’s historic industrial heritage.
The Madrid Regional Government Archives and Library in the former El Águila brewery is a centre for the preservation, custody and dissemination of the Region’s historic documentary heritage, ultimately aimed at ensuring the transparency of administrative processes and citizen’s rights. The construction, an extension of the Paseo del Prado cultural axis, is part of the political desire to open Madrid to the south and the cultural desire to safeguard the remains of the city’s historic industrial heritage.
TECHNICAL DATA. Location:
Former El Águila Brewery, calle General Lacy, Madrid, Spain. Architects: Luis
M. Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón. Client:
Madrid Regional Goverment. Collaborators: Matilde Peralta, Andrés Regueiro,
Ainoa Prats, Oscar F. Aguayo, Jaime Gimeno, Fernando García-Pino, María
Linares, David Nadal, Robert Reininger. Structural
engineers: Alfonso Gómez Gaite. Mechanical engineers: J.G. Asociados. Graphic
design: Gráfica Futura. Construction manager: Luis M. Mansilla, Emilio Tuñón and Ainoa Prats. Furniture
and equipment manager: Oscar F. Aguayo. Quantity
Surveyor/Technical Architect: Santiago Hernán and Juan Carlos Corona. Competition: 1994. Design project: 1996-1998. Work
completion: 2002. Built area: 40.000 m2. General contractor: Dragados y Construcciones, S.A. Photographer: Luis Asín.
