In February of this year, construction will begin on the renovation of Plaza de España in Madrid. The project is a collaborative effort by design firms Guadiana and Porras La Casta Arquitectos, led by architects Lorenzo Fernández-Ordóñez and Fernando Porras-Isla.
The project, known as Welcome Mother Nature, seeks to create a large green area in the city center, recovering its long-lost identity as a "plaza," which had been reduced to a transit space. The proposal emphasizes the definition of a plaza as a "social place of expression, gathering, and freedom." The project's main priority is to create a space where "it is easy to build shared civic experiences," while creating a new lung for a city that constantly lives under a cloud of pollution and smog.
A total of 212,108 people decided the future of one of Europe's most iconic plazas. Although most of the renovation will be inaugurated under the municipal administration elected in May of this year, the City Council expects that before that date, the pedestrianization of the road near the Madrid Tower, the widening of sidewalks along the extension of Gran Vía, and the diagonal pedestrian crossing between Gran Vía and Plaza de España will be completed. The City Council has awarded the construction contract for 62 million euros—36 million less than the 98 million budgeted, but 16 million more than estimated by the competition winners within the Participatory Budgeting framework.
The participatory nature of the project for this iconic plaza—voted on by Madrid residents in February 2017—combined with the complexity of the architectural and urban design itself, delayed the start of the works, which have been postponed several times since early 2018 until February 2019. Another reason for the delay was the technical queries raised by the Community of Madrid's General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, which questioned certain aspects of the proposed intervention. Ultimately, three main points from the initial project were modified: the demolition of the wall separating the Sabatini Gardens from the Cuesta de San Vicente, rotating the Cervantes monument 180 degrees, and adding a second tunnel or "re-tunnel" beneath the existing underpass on Bailén Street.
With these points resolved, the project's core vision can be summarized in four main ideas. The first addresses mobility, transforming the plaza from a traffic hub into a new link connecting various green and landscaped areas. The second is to establish a new outdoor civic center connected to Gran Vía, serving as an agora or public gathering space designed to accommodate a wide range of individual and collective activities.
The third pillar of the project focuses on reinforcing the vegetation and park areas. It aims to preserve and—if necessary—replant all existing trees, which hold significant landscape and environmental value, while planting up to 1,000 new plantings, selecting native species suited to the city's climate and conditions. The final objective is to establish a new spatial continuity through continuous, gently sloping surfaces that weave together distinct urban spaces, such as the Plaza de Oriente, Bailén Street, the Sabatini Gardens, Plaza de España itself, and the Temple of Debod.
Through traffic reduction, the preservation of existing vegetation, new plantings, and the modeling of the topography, the urban continuum will become a reality. Both unobstructed views and universal pedestrian connectivity will shape a new environment where heritage elements—currently overshadowed by heavy traffic—can be properly integrated into the landscape.
Via El País.
This article was written by Borja Fernández. The translation is powered by AI.
Welcome Mother Nature, proyecto ganador para la nueva Plaza de España de Madrid
12 Tras un largo proceso de recuento de votos, debido en parte a una participación más elevada de lo previsto, por fin tenemos proyecto para la Remodelación de la Plaza de España de Madrid.
