The Garden for Romantic Crossovers

Madrid, 2019
Matadero Madrid Cultural Centre stands at the heart of an urban ‘heat island’: a place where heat gets accumulated as a consequence of the wide spaces without vegetation and shadow that tremendously suffer the extreme temperatures and the heat waves that are more and more frequent in the city. The proposal is to implement architectonical nature-based solutions to mitigate the heat island effect and to rethink the role of the public space in relation to climate change that will culminate in a series of gardens capable of raising the resilience of this public space in Madrid.

“The Garden for Romantic Crossovers” links humans, non-human animals, biological entities, and technology, in a non-anthropocentric cohabitation infrastructural garden promoting both constructive and environmental strategies that go beyond traditional discourses associated with ecology. The main aim of the prototype presented at the Matadero Madrid exhibition hall is to test on a controlled scale the construction and performance of these future scenarios.

A fabric canopy suspended in a lightweight structure above a 4m diameter circular space gives shadow to the hanging aphrodisiac and aromatic vegetation species that will inhabit the gardens creating a scented naturally controlled microclimate protected from cold winter temperatures and excessive heat in the summer that will facilitate among others the relationship between humans and other species transforming Matadero Madrid into a biodiversity pole in the city. In addition, a set of UV bulbs allow us to perceive aspects of the plants that we don’t usually see, the thermal lamps will gently arise the temperature when needed by the inhabitants of the garden and a set of hung soil pods and water tanks will not only ensure the necessary conditions for nourishment but they will also regulate the humidity of the space to welcome birds, insects, plants and humans.

Architects:
TAKK, Mireia Luzárraga + Alejandro Muiño

Collaborators:
Andrea Muniain, Ronte Escobar, Mateo Olivera, Elena Rocabert, Pablo Ferreira

Client:
Matadero Madrid

Exhibition:
Cyborg Garden
Mutant Institute for Environmental Narratives

Curators:
Elii (Oficina de Arquitectura)
Uriel Fogué, Eva Gil, Carlos Palacios

Photo:
José Hevia