Madrid will be different in 10 years. This statement is not surprising if you live in the city, you can see it changing almost daily. This is something that is further accelerated when foreign investors begin to set their sights (and their businesses) on the capital. But without a Haussmann or a Antonio Palacios with a clear vision to redefine the future of the capital, it is difficult to imagine what the new face of the city will look like. Here are some clues.
The project to replace El Corte Inglés in Méndez Álvaro
This 2024 we said goodbye to El Corte Inglés of Méndez Álvaro the 11,811-square-meter building had served as a shopping center and hypermarket for more than 30 years. In its place, as reported by the Madrid City Council, it is planned to create the “Nuevo Sur Méndez Álvaro” Planning Area, which will consist of two zones, one for neighborhood use and the other for offices.
The first of these, covering 8,500 square meters, will have a new Verde area with trees of local species. The second, of 3,311.29 square meters, will be used to erect one or two office towers no more than 27 stories high. A project that promises to change the views from the arganzuela district of Madrid and that in the near future it will become a reality.
Madrid Nuevo Norte
The rendering you see above this sentence (and that can remind us of more futuristic skylines such as those of Batumi or Singapore) is the visual sample of what is intended to be Madrid in a few years, of the Madrid that is expected.
Planned for 2040, Madrid Nuevo Norte is already under construction. There will be more than 2 million square meters in the Chamartín area that will start with the undergrounding of the station (works are already underway) and will culminate in two decades in housing, offices, stores, facilities, Verde areas… and skyscrapers.
And the tallest tower in Europe
The Nuevo Norte Tower, at 330 meters high, will be the tallest skyscraper in Europe, surpassing the Eiffel Tower and overtaking the Torre de Cristal as the tallest in Madrid. The business center buildings will begin to rise in 2025, consolidating Madrid as a city with a notable concentration of tall skyscrapers.
Célere Bifaz
célere Bifaz, the future residential Suite in the Los Berrocales neighborhood (between Ensanche de Vallecas and Santa Eugenia), which is expected to become a reality in the second half of 2027, can be summarized in figures. According to the developer of the project, Vía Célere, the homes will have from one to three bedrooms and all will have a terrace, storage room and one or two parking spaces.
The development will also have common areas such as swimming pools, a gymnasium, an outdoor play area for children, bicycle parking and a “social-gourmet room”.
The two towers of the Ermita del Santo
When you ride a bateau (boat in French) on the Seine it is even more obvious that the buildings on both banks were made to aggrandize the city, and although it is unfair to compare it to the Manzanares, it is hard to imagine the time when palaces, such as Goya’s Quinta del Sordo, were destroyed to build small and functional apartments, but without a trace of beauty. The truth is that the arrival of people in droves in the 50s and 60s from all parts of Spain to work in Madrid forced to remake the city, without much time to think about impractical things. This explains why the walk along Madrid Río, although pleasant, does not give that feeling of grandeur.
Now, when even in these Zones the rise in housing prices is unstoppable, a new profile for the river is beginning to be imagined. Thus, where the moribund Ermita del Santo Shopping Center used to be, two 23-story towers have been approved for construction. Originally there were 28, but neighborhood protests have reduced the height and also added sports areas and social housing.
The Colon Towers
Including the Columbus Towers in this list would be like if a song from 2020 is remixed in 2024 and the remix is included in some list of best songs of the year.
is it the same building as the one that opened in 1968? Definitely not. Torres Colón has undergone bodywork and painting, has grown four stories and is now illuminated at night.
This is the third time that this building, designed by architect Antonio Lamela, has undergone a remodeling process. In this case it has been the work of Luis Vidal + architects and through it the aesthetics of the building has been renovated to bring it closer to what it is today Erik Harley defined as something more Neutrex Futura.
The law firm Garrigues will be the firm that will inhabit the building (which is owned by Mutua Madrileña) for the next twelve years.
Cuatro Caminos Metro Park
Madrid is about to undergo a significant urban transformation with the Cuatro Caminos Metro Park project, which will occupy a 60,000 square meter plot in Chamberí -where the Metro depot used to be.
The most prominent element of this development will be an imposing 100-meter-high tower, accompanied by five other buildings, a subway parking garage with 1,000 spaces, a renovated underground parking garage area and a large park that will connect the streets of Bravo Murillo, Pablo Iglesias, Reina Victoria and Esquilache.
In total, 443 housing units will be built, 10% of which will be public housing. This project will redefine the urban landscape and offer new residential opportunities in a modernized and attractive environment.
This article was written by María F. Carballo, Alberto del Castillo, Isabel Nieto and Elena Francés.