Matadero Madrid

On its 54th year, the FAD Award for Architecture and Interior Design distinguished collective work vis-à-vis the individualism of ‘star architects’. The jury chaired by Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra gave the prize to the Matadero de Madrid Cultural Center, a complex of several refurbished buildings with over 100,000 square meters of space for contemporary creation, only two of which – Langarita-Navarro’s Music Hangar and Iñaki Carnicero, Ignacio Vila & Alejandro Virseda’s Hangar 16 – were among the finalists. Although the complex as a whole was not nominated and there were no precedents in this regard, the jury decided to reward the entire operation, appreciating how it generates ‘collective intelligence’ by making the most of existing spaces, with minimal protagonism of new architecture. The other awardees were María José de Blas and Rubén Picado in the Interiors section, for their Tondeluna restaurant in Logroño, and Madrid Río en the City and Landscape category, for a “project of projects” coordinated by Ginés Garrido that the jury deemed exemplary in how it “glues long segregated neighborhoods together”.