The Centro Cultural Palomeras, a small school in Vallecas, has a unique new awning in its courtyard: it is decorated with an image of the most famous royal gate in Madrid. And is that the cover that gives shade to students during recess was made with parts of the fabric that covered the Puerta de Alcalá during its remodelation in 2023.
The iconic 18th-century monument was covered with a 2,200-square-meter tarpaulin to hide the scaffolding from the work it underwent last year. The aim of the restoration was to improve the condition of the sculptural ensemble and to put an end to the humidities that were affecting the structure of the Gate.
Editorial credit: Ayuntamiento de Madrid.
A practical and sustainable workshop
After ten months of work, the spectacular canvas, which was also a flat recreation of the monument it covered, was removed so that the Puerta de Alcalá could show off its new appearance. Luckily, the Madrid City Council decided to organize the II Workshop on Public Space and Intervention in the School Environment in order to create shaded spaces in schools, and the canvas was the material chosen to do so.
Teachers and families from Centro Cultural Palomeras and 13 other schools attended the workshop. The Basurama collective was in charge of explaining to the participants the basics of installing shade structures. Afterwards, the 14 centers helped to transform the canvas of the Puerta de Alcalá into several awnings that were then given away to the schools that attended the activity.
The Educate today for a more sustainable Madrid program was in charge of setting up the tarpaulin in the Vallecas school playground, which has started the 2024-2025 school year with a spectacular awning.