A corner near El Retiro

This veteran Madrid-based Publishing Company, in its search for a closer relationship to the public and the street, finds a 200 m2 old commercial space with 7 balconies in the southern limit of the Salamanca District, at the junction of Conde de Aranda and Lagasca, a few meters away from Alcalá  and El Retiro park. The space, located in the mezzanine level of a 100-year-old building, used to host a restaurant, and therefore requires an intervention that combines flexibility, economy of means and visibility.

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Flexibility

Espacio Encuentro has a triple vocation. On the one hand, it must host the company offices. On the other hand, it should serve as an exhibition and bookstore area. Additionally, it should meet the publisher’s cultural vocation and be able to host events, exhibitions, presentations and debates, making them visible in an effective way. The coexistence of these three uses is articulated around a meeting room that occupies the center of the space. The reception, the offices, and the main room lay around this core, that faces Lagasca street. A reading room occupies the privileged corner between both streets. This demand of flexibility is embodied in a suspended table that serves as a book exhibitor and, by through a simple mechanism, can be collected in the room’s ceiling to leave the space free for exhibitions and conferences.

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Color and texture

The material intervention is concieved as a superficial operation. Through the use of different types of paint and a short color palette - yellow, white and black- the space expands and unifies at the same time. The original space, with its wooden beam’s ceilings, its mechanical installations overlapping over the years, its tiled floor, its brick interior and its wood structure, is painted in white or yellow. And this is done in a radical way, imposing on the original geometry another slightly displaced geometry that connects, separates and qualifies spaces, giving them warmth and lightness. The rooms that now form this continuous space are fragmented by large boards as sliding doors. Some walls are painted in blackboard paint or covered with mirrors. A couple of pieces of furniture organize the access, hide the storage and serve as exhibitors for books.

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Visibility

The intervention aims to build a powerful identity providing the publishing activity with a certain visibility. The balconies on Lagasca street offer a great opportunity to let the interior look outside. Some simple methacrylate shatters supported by a thin steel rod invite to look inside.

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