Barceló Multi-purpose Centre

Downtown Madrid residents demanded a space that would cover their sport and leisure needs. With this goal in mind, the City Council knocked down the old Barceló Market and erected the new Barceló Community centre, a hub that comprises a modern market, a public library, a sports centre and an underground car park interconnected with pedestrian areas and gardens.

Barceló Market’s 7,150 square metres are distributed in 4 levels. Escalators allow access from the street to its viewpointroof and connect all floors, while opening the building to pedestrian streets and illuminating interior spaces.

Above it, the Barceló sports centre, has an area of 2,850 square metres with a big picture window open to the sky, has the least number of supports over the market and a large opening in one of the façades. This was done through large supporting elements in the base and in the roof of the sports centre. The roof was insulated with 4,000 m of extruded polystyrene URSA XPS square meters. These smooth surfaced, shiplap edged panels, are especially indicated for this kind of use, in ventilated roofs, inverted roofs, tiled or green surfaces.

The 1,950 square metre library connects the block with Isabel la Católica School. Conceived as a bridge-building, it frees the area beneath it enlarging the school playground. To do so, 2 large trusses span over this wide space enduring the weight from the 3 building floor slabs. The lower slab hangs from the truss by means of tensioned steel cables.

The façades of the two upper floors – the reading and meeting areas – are covered with glass panels which bring natural light into them. The parking and the new market’s structure are made of reinforced concrete, with rectangular pillars and continuous slabs in the basement and waffle slabs supporting the market.