Ana Fernandez Moraleda
Woven Space. New intervention at the Royal Tapestry Factory
project End of Degree Master's Degree in Architecture
University of Navarra
Tutor: Eduardo Escauriaza
Espacio tejido (Woven Space) is a new intervention in the Royal Tapestry Factory that rises above the original Neo-Mudéjar building, constructed as a fabric formed by layers that create a network spaces in which the art of tapestry, light, materials, and color take center stage.
Faced with the need to transform the only place in the world designed to be the home of tapestry into an exciting venue, the new intervention rises up, making tapestry and carpets visible. It is a new presence that transforms the city, showcasing the tradition of tapestry that exists in Spain and its importance in our culture since its arrival in the Hispano-Muslim era.
With everything learned from a journey through the processes involved in making a tapestry, the new intervention begins to take shape, following the laws of the world of tapestries, which are reinterpreted when applied to space, giving rise to this architecture, which is constructed like a fabric.
The starting point is the structure. The structure of tapestries and carpets consists of warp and weft, threads that form a base on which the fabric is then woven or knotted. The basis of this architecture is a three-dimensional framework of wooden bars that work together, on which the rest of the layers that make up the project are then "woven."
Eight main sections transmit the load from the elevated structure to the supports, which consist of large concrete pillars. There are only two types of joints: wooden joints and meeting wood and concrete, designed so that the bars are not interrupted but appear to intertwine, as if they were threads.
The layers that are "woven" into this structure are: program (school, storeroom , workshops, museum, library, and file, with the rest of the program remaining in the original building), circulation (a network metal walkways connecting the spaces in different routes), and facilities (the network exposed ducts is painted in different colors according to their functions).
A final layer completes this tapestry-like architecture: the envelope. Towards the interior of the block, the structure is diluted with a garden of trees and dye plants, and towards the exterior, it is delimited by this envelope. It has no specific shape, but rather, when viewed from the outside, it transforms the new intervention into a cloud of threads suspended in the city that arouses curiosity, inviting visitors to enter and discover the universe of tapestries.
It consists of a metal substructure that attaches to the framework and tensions a series of cables that support a translucent fiberglass textile membrane. During the day, it filters light into the spaces, and at night, it allows a glimpse of the inner life of the Factory. Thanks to design a joint capable of accommodating any curve using the same pieces and the systematization of variable measurements, an issue unlimited issue of different sections can be formed, composed of repeating pieces and joints.
Finally, the perimeter wall that enclosed the block has been removed and the surrounding streets have been pedestrianized, connecting them to the garden to give the city of Madrid a new public space which, together with the rest of the new spaces to be discovered, will make the Royal Tapestry Factory a reference letter everyone.