Triagulac[c]ión | About Legazpi Market in Madrid

Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy

Abstract: The main contribution of municipal architects to Madrid's Rationalism must be investigated in the construction of public buildings. Markets play a fundamental part among them, thanks to the work of F. J. Ferrero Llusìa, public architect since 1921. With his markets, between 1931 and 1934, it has brought a real change in European industrial architecture in the XIX century. With the premise of hygiene, constructive austerity, structural trueness and the rejection of ornament in favor of pure form, he created a new hypothesis that was characterized by the guiding principles of Rationalism. Awareness of the construction culture of the time, through observation of the details and technical literature linked to the “Mercado Central de Frutas y Verduras” in Madrid, are the conditions for an intervention of conscious restoration. The paper presents a process of slow re-appropriation of the site by the citizens, as an alternative to the current project proposed by the municipality.