Glass envelope with oval footprint creates fitting memorial

Hightex GmbH | Rimsting, Germany

On the third anniversary of the Atocha railway terminal bomb attack in Madrid, Spain, March 2004, the Spanish Royal Family inaugurated the memorial in memory of the victims. FAM, a group of young architects in Madrid, designed a glass envelope with an oval footprint on top of the subterranean visitor room. The memorial, which won an Outstanding Achievement Award in the commercial interiors category of the 2007 International Achievement Awards, symbolizes the “cry of hope to the city” from the “place of pain” in the railway station’s depths. An alley between the Underground subway system and the historic railway terminal accesses the memorial. The entrance’s lock provides separation between a place of contemplation and people in hurried transit. Only after the outer door is closed will the inner door open to a square chamber made of special glazing blocks, directly underneath the structure.