Mega project Madrid RIO realized in four years

Rotterdam, 18 April 2011 – The city of Madrid has now its own waterfront, along the River Manzanares. Until recently, the river was squeezed in-between two four-lane highways. The construction of a 12 km tunnel provided new public space in the densely populated capital city. The infrastructural investment which totaled 3 billion Euros, added 150 hectares of open space to the heart of the city. The designer of the public space was selected through an international design competition in 2005. The Rotterdam based landscape architecture firm West 8, in collaboration with Madrid’s architects Mrio won the competition. Since then the implementation of the project has surged ahead. On Friday 15 April, the final part, the Arganzuela Park, was opened to the public. Thus, the largest new urban park in the world was completed in record time, with the total investment in public space of 400 million Euros.

West 8 is an award-winning international office for urban design and landscape architecture founded in 1987. Over the last 20 years West 8 has established itself as a leading practice with an international team of 70 architects, urban designers, landscape architects and industrial engineers. West 8 developed projects all over the world in places such as Copenhagen, London, Moscow, New York, Madrid, Toronto and Amsterdam. The office gained international recognition with projects such as Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam (NL), Borneo-Sporenburg in Amsterdam (NL), Chiswick Park in London (UK) and Expo ’02 in Yverdon-les-Bains (CH). Many of the projects are the result of groundbreaking entries in important international competitions. Recently won competitions include Toronto Waterfront in Toronto (CA), Governors Island in New York (USA) and Playa de Palma in Mallorca (ES).

Amongst the numerous awards received by West 8 are the Honor Award of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the International Urban Landscape Gold Award (IULA), the Prix de Rome, the Dutch Maaskant Award, the Bijhouwer Award, the Rosa Barba First European Landscape Prize, the Green Pin and the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for Urban Design.

For more information: Public Relations, Allard Terwel, +31 (0)10 – 485 58 01, pr@west8.com, www.west8.com