Mercado de la Cebada
The Mercado de la Cebada is next to the La Latina Metro Station. It has a history of almost 100 years, as it started as a marketplace for farmers to sell their products in the city. The events are organised mainly on the weekends and they are chosen by the teams working inside.
References:
Google Maps
http://madridnofrills.com/the-real-mercado-de-la-cebada/
https://www.facebook.com/pg/MercadodelaCebada/about/?ref=page_internal
https://www.flickr.com/photos/javier1949/11566458674 (image)
Lavapiés and La Latina are two neighboring areas in the southern part of the center of Madrid. They are two higlhy dense living areas, with old buildings and narrow tiled streets. Both areas evolved as housing areas for migrating populations that moved to Madrid during its long history. La Latina, is now gentrified - expensive restaurants and bars, while the rents are the highest in the city due its connection to the Palace. At the same time Lavapiés is the cultural heart of the city, containing ethnic restaurants, mercados, art spaces, theaters, cinemas, and plazas. The area is accesible by car, but the narrow streets and the stone tile makes it hostile for cars and more welcome to pedestrians. It is a lively place, and especially on Sundays, when it hosts El Rastro, the big flea market of Madrid.
In the area that we study as a reference, we can spot some buildings with an intruging history and present. In the map below we can locate them inside the area of Lavapiés and La Latina. The main though, of this area, and the one that gives its special feeling and character, is the event of El Rastro, Madrid´s use flea market, every Sunday. Due to this, the majority of the other uses get activated, and while during the week the area has a steady kind of slow of people, on Sundays it becomes the center of the city, hosting not only the market, also multiple cultural events. The Mercados are open hosting live bands while all the food stands are open, and the plazas are full of people enjoying thee sun with a caña.
La Tabacalera
The Tabacalera is an old tobacco factory close to the plaza of Embajadores. It covers a whole city block, and it was supposed to be refurnished, so it could be a cultural house. Unions of architects and neighbors blocked this proposition, and rethought the whole thing. The building is a self organised community of artists, musicians and artisans, containing different daily workshops and working spaces. Usually on Sundays, it's open during the day to the public, hosting second hand markets and music events.
References:
Google Maps
Plaza de Arturo Barea
The plaza of Arturo Barea, is located a few meters from the Lavapiés metro station. It is a lively plaza, filled all day with people, standing in a small space between the wonderful restoration of the Biblioteca de las Escuelas Pías and one of the oldest social housing complexes of the area. Because of its small size, the plaza doesn´t contain a lot of green - but i contains a system of sitting spaces, making it an urban park.
References:
Google Maps
http://www.linazasorosanchez.com
https://elpais.com/ccaa/2017/03/04/madrid/1488631989_688933.html
https://diario.madrid.es/blog/notas-de-prensa/arturo-barea-en-la-memoria-de-madrid/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Barea
http://heritagetimes.eu/escuelas-pias-lavapies-refurbishment-construction/
El Rastro
Mercado de San Fernando
The Mercado de San Fernando stands next to the Biblioteca de las Escuelas Pías and covers half the block. It was for a long time unused, until young merchants took over the place and re opened it and since 2013 it is under administration of the Asociation of Merchants of the Market of San Fernando (Asociación de Comerciantes del Mercado de San Fernando). During the week, it opens for half the day and the flow of people is slow. On Sundays though, as the rest of the area, it transforms to a lively neighborhood of food drinks and music.
References:
Google Maps
http://madriddiferente.com/tiendas/lavapies-recupera-el-mercado-de-san-fernando/
Plaza de Lavapiés
The plaza of Lavapiés stands upon the metro station. Upon it stands the Teatro Valle - Inclán. The plaza is a meeting point of three streets, as seen in the image, but the interesting point is that in this example of urban space, is that cars are unwanted here. The stonetiles that cover the street cover the whole area, giving it the feeling of a clearly pedestrian area. Cars slow down, always leaving the people move around the playground and the benches of the plaza, or sit in one of the open air tables of the surrounding restaurants.
References:
Google Maps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatro_Valle-Inclán
https://www.flickr.com/photos/softguides/3390345878
http://cdn.mcu.es/programacion/temporada-actual/valle-inclan/
Autogestión ¡Esta es una plaza!
This Plaza is a self organised project next to the plaza of Lavapiés. It is a beautiful uiet place in between a dense urban tissue, that was formed as a park and a neighborhood meeting point. As they also state in their facebook page, this gestion is open to the city and its people, as "we have the purpose of urban custody, understood as the recovery, conservation and management of public space for citizens". (transl. from tenemos como finalidad la custodia urbana, entendida como la recuperación, conservación y gestión del espacio público para la ciudadanía)
References:
Google Maps
http://estaesunaplaza.blogspot.gr
https://www.facebook.com/estaesunaplaza/https://dibujomadrid.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/sesion-230-esta-es-una-plaza/
El Rastro is the event that conects the area, and all of the buildings - spots - mercados that we described. Its the big flea market of Madrid, that takes place every Sunday morning along Ribera de Curtidores. The area is full of antique shopes (antiguedades) and its existence as a marketplace goes back to the 16th century, as Roma populations of the southern provincies of Madrid, sold jwelry and antiqus. Now, it holds different stands, of used and unused items, from a variety of neighboring countries, such as Morocco and Portugal. The buildings that we described before participate in this event, activating the whole area in between. The party goes on all Sunday, as when the markets close, people continue their walk in the restaurants and bars that have filled Lavapiés. The interesting though, characteristic of Lavapiés is that, in contrast ot its neighboring sister area La Latina, it hasn't been gentrified by this whole process. The gestions of the vecinos, and the administrative management of the municipality of Madrid, has allowed this area to be re taken from each people. The neighborhood life takes place in the streets, reviving and re enforcing the neighborhood feeling, that is partially lost in a lot of other areas of Madrid, especially in the north of the City.
References:
Google Maps
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126920889@N07/34533081801/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Rastro
Photo given by Jan Sijbrand Toren - https://www.instagram.com/sijbrand.t/?max_id=1553228176636617137
