West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture

Last week in Barcelona the 53th annual FAD awards were presented.  Madrid Rio has been awarded this prestigious award in the category City and Landscape. West 8 and MRIO Arquitectos (a joint venture of Burgos&Garrido Asociados, Porras La Casta Arquitectos, and Rubio&Alvarez-Sala) were responsible for the design of this grand-scale urban park. According to the jury, Madrid Rio serves as a great example of urban development. The Jury report said:

"A challenging and difficult urban intervention, which has been designed coherently and been built rigorously, where the richness and complexity of every part generate a new urban landscape, thus is capable of modifying the lively character of a city."

FAD, or Foment de les Arts i el Disseny, is a highly regarded, non-profit organisation who aims to promote architecture and design in Spain’s cultural and economic development.  The very prestigious FAD awards serve to promote avant-garde trends and to acknowledged high-quality design work in Spain and on the Iberian Isles since 1958.

Madrid Rio is a 120 ha, green area alongside the River Manzanares in the centre of Madrid. The pre-existing motorway has been placed underground and the reclaimed riverbanks and urban area were redeveloped as public space only. Madrid Rio has transformed into a green oasis alongside the river offering a space to the city-dwellers to relax.

For further information, please see Arquifad.org.

more information: Madrid RIO