New Kiosks in Puerta del Sol

The emblematic Puerta del Sol, an icon of the city of Madrid, has been transformed. To do this, the project that architects José Ignacio Linazasoro and Ricardo Sánchez presented in 2014 as part of the "Piensa Sol" ideas competition proposed by the COAM, designed to pedestrianize the area, was put into practice.

Their proposal was very simple, to transform a space where the different "elements" that could be found in Puerta del Sol were randomly and haphazardly distributed all over the square. This meant that pedestrians had to negotiate several "obstacles", preventing smooth and diaphanous movement.

The remodelling has involved rearranging the different elements, which have been distributed harmoniously to leave an empty space in the centre, which will be used to host the events that take place here, making Puerta del Sol a 100% pedestrian space. The idea was to restore the architecture of the square as an open space, but without removing the basic elements necessary for it to function as a public space, such as the parking spaces and kiosks.

On the north side, the access stairs to the metro have been integrated, as well as the statues of Mariblanca and the Bear and the Strawberry Tree. On the west- east axis, the kiosks have been grouped together, with designs in the form of cluster-shaped glass pavilions.

These new kiosks give the square a touch of modernity for the 21st century. In order to ensure the smooth flow of visitors to and from these sales outlets, each kiosk has an automatic semi-circular sliding door with a central opening. An intelligent entrance by Manusa, a leading company in the design, manufacture, installation, and maintenance of automatic doors, which has been integrated into this new project in a joint venture with the company Primur.

As the kiosks are located in a square that is exposed to many hours of sunlight every day, both the automatic door panels and the walls of each kiosk were fitted with glass that has a solar control chamber, which helps to reduce the extreme heat inside, especially in the summer months.

Manusa works hard every day to provide solutions for buildings and projects of all kinds of industries with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and cities. If you are an architect and you have a project in which you need to integrate any intelligent access, at Manusa we offer an integral service, providing support throughout all the phases of the project, from conception to installation, as well as the maintenance service.