Carlos Lamela explains in ‘The New York Times’ the importance of Centro Canalejas Madrid
The United State newspaper The New York Times, the most influential media outlet in the world, has visited Centro Canalejas for several hours. The visit, guided through the explanations of Carlos Lamela, president of Estudio Lamela, the office responsible for the project, has served to show the American newspaper the scope and complexity of the most important architectural proposal that has been made in Madrid in recent decades.
The objective of the project is to create a complex with different uses: a luxury hotel operated by the Four Seasons chain (which opens its doors on September 25) with 200 rooms, an exclusive retail area of 15,000 m2, 22 luxury homes and a parking garage for 400 spaces. But beyond its configuration, what is important, as Carlos Lamela points out in The New York Times, is that Centro Canalejas respond “not only to an obligation to preserve this city’s cultural patrimony, but also to a clear desire among many tourists to feel that they are enjoying classical buildings that come with a lot of history”
The New York Times highlights, precisely, the commitment to the preservation of the past and points out the 14,000 objects that have been restored, from handrails, bars, wooden panels, marble columns to decorative objects of all kinds. The transformation of the area in which it is located, a few meters from Puerta del Sol in Madrid, will change and improve the surrounding areas and the city.
An expert in reading the city and cities, the renowned architect José María Ezquiaga, contributes his reading in the newspaper’s extensive report. “I really think of Madrid as one of the most American cities of Europe in terms of its urban model, especially now that so many of our corporate headquarters have moved to the suburbs”, he explain. And he adds: The Canalejas project is an important addition to Madrid’s tourism offerings that complies with Spanish regulations to protect patrimony. Because buildings that have no use end up dying. “Without a major hotel project, the future of these beautiful buildings was looking very complicated”, says Carlos Lamela.
