ABSTRACT
Atocha station was inaugurated in 1851 as Estacion de Mediodia, or South Station. It was and still is Madrid’s largest train station. The central nave is a mixture of brick walls in an eclectic style with cast iron arches resting on steel pilasters placed against the lateral brick walls. The ornamental brickwork of the lateral walls shows an elegant combination of strong red colours from the sands of Murcia and Guadalajara, with white tiles from Ariza in Zaragoza. Commuters, shoppers, or tourists still marvel over the vast scale of palm trees inside a massive ‘greenhouse’. The vaults of the new stations recall motifs frequently found in Soane’s work – recognizing implicitly that in architecture there is no need to fear precedents, Moneo explains. Located near the former Royal Botanical Garden, alongside the Museo del Prado, the city garden of Atocha is an urban response to this historical fabric on a metropolitan scale.
