An itinerant design studio in Madrid

At the Madrid Design Festival, the architects of ENORME Studio, in collaboration with MINI España, realised an installation based on renewable energies situated in the famous Plaza Santa María Soledad Torres Acosta of Madrid: an itinerant design studio.


On-field interventions have always been a typical feature of ENORME studio, a Spanish architectural studio that, for years, has worked to create public and participative spaces. The community is the concept at the heart of all of its projects, as it is the only way to rethink new collective visions for our cities to regenerate the urban landscapes according to the needs of the people and respecting the environment.
Their latest project, realised for the Madrid Design Festival (link) in collaboration with MINI España, is the result of these reflections. One year ago, the company inaugurated the MINI Hub in the neighbourhood of Malasaña, a sort of creative meeting point that has grown by opening up to the street with the installation Montaña en la Luna (The Mountain in the Moon), created by ENORME Studio in the Plaza Santa María Soledad Torres Acosta.
It is a tangible and feasible experiment of a “portable”, i.e. itinerant, design and architectural office. Originating from the company motto, “Creative Use of Space”, it aims at improving the quality of urban life. This is why it is on the street, so close to the users, where every proposal for the cities of the future can be developed and designed along with the citizens.
This installation is where the city meets the urban design, and concretely focusses on the use of renewable energies: the USB charging points and the lamps, for instance, are powered by solar energy, while the sport enthusiasts can charge their devices with the kinetic energy generated by their own movements. This way, they can burn calories while doing something good for the environment, as well as for their health.
Montaña en la Luna by ENORME Studio is a habitable and efficient structure, a response to the challenges of the daily life in the cities, where sustainability is not just an abstract concept, and where design is really shared. During the month of February, this small architecture hosted several activities linked to the Madrid Design Festival, including a workshop on city furniture called Bench a Day, new public space laboratories and talks on the cities of the future. All of this, of course, with a collaborative, interdisciplinary and intergenerational approach to the urban design.

Christiane Bürklein

Designers and curators: ENORME Studio http://enormestudio.es/
Client: MINI España / MINI Hub http://minihub.es/
Madrid Design Festival / http://madriddesignfestival.com/
Collaborators: Builder CARRSA / Solar Energy and Interactivity Systems CREÁTICA https://www.creatica.ong/ Gardening Greener and the Other Side https://www.greener-ontheotherside.com/
Photography: Javier de Paz García https://www.instagram.com/javierdepazgarcia/ // Luis Alda https://www.instagram.com/luisaldaphoto/
Place: Plaza de Santa María Soledad Torres Acosta / Madrid
February 2018