Sirius - Conference and congress centre in Madrid

Address: Madrid, Spain
Competition year: 2007
Size: approx. 56,500 m²
Client: Madrid Espacios y Congressos
Engineer: Buro Happold
Awards: 3rd prize
Type of competition: Open, international


The conference and congress centre relates consciously to its location as the hub of the area's infrastructure. It reaches out towards the traffic nodes and opens itself up with apertures into the building. Along the roads where the traffic rushes past, the building presents itself as a sculptural and easily grasped figure, an identity-creating architectural work.

Our ambition is for the congress centre to form a bridge between the tower blocks to the east and the existing urban district to the west. The centre must become a naturally integrated part of the city which creates value for the daily life of the area. To facilitate this goal, we have created a public inner street which connects two strategic points in the local area: the central square between the tower blocks to the east, and the new square on the western part of the site, which has direct access to the bus station. A modern passage through which you can take a short cut and allow yourself to be tempted by a number of commercial functions such as shops, cafés, etc. By consciously interweaving the life of the city and the congress centre's activities, we enhance the possibility of creating synergy between the centre and the local urban area. The actual star shape of the building also helps to activate the urban environment and lead visitors into the building.

Characteristic windows break the facade and are repeated in skylights which ensure a lively interior with many different light sources, and a sense of the outside weather.