BIG designs reusable temporary city for Shakira's Madrid residency
Macondo Park transforms concert experience with sustainable urban design
1Reimagining concert venues
BIG's design for Shakira's Madrid residency breaks from traditional stadium formats by creating Macondo Park - a 185,000 sqm temporary cultural landscape. The space combines a 50,000-seat stadium with 12 themed pavilions, markets, and leisure areas. Unlike conventional venues focused solely on the stage, this design choreographs the entire audience journey through color-coded paths leading to diverse experiences before the main event.
2Latin American cultural immersion
Eight main pavilions celebrate pillars of Latin American culture, while the central Macondo Tree references Gabriel García Márquez's literary works. Over 500 Mediterranean and Latin American trees create shaded gathering spaces, transforming the vast venue into human-scale environments. The design intentionally blurs lines between performance space and cultural immersion, with architecture guiding discovery rather than just directing crowds.
3Color-coded visitor navigation
Visitors enter through sequence of colored arches matching specific routes to different experience zones. This system efficiently distributes crowds across VIP areas, family spaces, and cultural pavilions while maintaining visual coherence. The color-coding creates intuitive wayfinding in the temporary city's complex layout, with each path offering unique programmed experiences before converging at the main stadium.
4Sustainable temporary architecture
All structures were designed for disassembly and reuse, with pavilions built in just 10 days using standard event components like trusses and scaffolding. Bright fabric wraps transform industrial elements into vibrant shaded spaces. Post-event, materials will be repurposed - fabrics reused, artificial grass relocated to schools, and trees returned to nurseries, minimizing waste from the temporary installation.
5Narrative-driven spatial design
The fictional town of Macondo serves as conceptual framework rather than literal reconstruction. BIG used it to organize diverse functions into a cohesive narrative experience blending storytelling, popular culture, and collective celebration. This approach creates memorable spatial sequences that extend the entertainment beyond musical performance into architectural experience.
6Audience experience engineering
The design strategically spaces attractions to manage crowd flow throughout the day-long events. Shaded resting areas, food markets, and cultural exhibits provide reasons for visitors to explore beyond the main stage. This distributed programming prevents bottlenecks while increasing dwell time and commercial opportunities throughout the venue.
7Rapid deployment logistics
Despite the project's scale, some pavilions were assembled in approximately 10 days using modular components. The six-month design process focused on reimagining standard event infrastructure - scaffolding becomes architectural feature, containers transform into themed spaces. This pragmatic approach balances ambitious vision with real-world construction constraints.
8Future of live events
Macondo Park demonstrates how temporary architecture can elevate events beyond mere performances into immersive cultural experiences. Its success may inspire other artists to collaborate with architects on similarly ambitious temporary environments. The project also sets new sustainability benchmarks for large-scale temporary installations in the entertainment industry.