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ACTIU Berbegal y Formas, S.A.
Projects / Education / Elisava

Madrid, Spain

Elisava Madrid: a new educational model for the creative industries

Education

Target

With more than six decades of experience in Barcelona, Elisava (University School of Design and Engineering) has recently opened its first headquarters outside Catalonia. Madrid was the city chosen for this new project, which reinforces its commitment to advanced, creative training aligned with the challenges of the present. Elisava Madrid was created as a university hub specialising in the creative industries ecosystem, with a distinctive focus on business design and strategic innovation.

Since 2024, the centre has launched three postgraduate programmes focused on leadership, branding and strategic design for companies. Its objective: to train future professionals who will help transform the business fabric through creative thinking and design as a tool for change. Located in Acid House Madrid, in the Legazpi neighbourhood (one of the last industrial enclaves within the M-30), the building was originally a small workshop. The mission was to maintain its industrial memory and transform it into a flexible platform for learning and collaboration.

At Elisava Madrid there are no conventional classrooms. Over an area of 300 m², the project respects the original structure of the building and enhances its spatial qualities through a palette of neutral materials and industrial elements, creating a functional, open and welcoming environment. The entire space is a versatile container, with no pre-established codes. It can function as a classroom, coworking, event room, auditorium or workshop, and changes shape three or four times a day, depending on the needs of the programme.

Here, pedagogical methods evolve towards open and transversal models, where the teacher acts as a mentor and the student is the protagonist of his or her process. The space adapts to their pace, not the other way around.

The project is based on a logic of conscious reuse and economy of means. With a palette of neutral materials, industrial elements and a spatiality without hierarchies, the result is a functional and multi-purpose environment.

Solution

To make this possible, the project incorporates flexible and highly functional furniture by Actiu, designed to facilitate movement and the constant transformation of the space: light and stackable Fluit chairs, washable, folding and mobile Talent tables, modular sockets and quick connection and disconnection systems. Everything is designed to allow for agile, practical and intuitive reconfiguration.

Thanks to these solutions, the space is transformed throughout the day according to the needs of each activity. There is no single way of inhabiting it: each person shapes it according to their objectives, making the environment a true catalyst for learning, experimentation and collaboration.

In this way, Elisava Madrid is not just an academic headquarters: it is a think tank, a talent incubator and a creative community in the heart of Madrid. An environment where design, business culture, strategy and technology come together, with a clear international vocation. A school that transforms rather than educates.

Do you have a project?
Architects/Interior designers
Estudio Arquitectura-G (Mies Van Der Rohe 2015 Emerging Architect Award and FAD Architecture Award 2022) / Creative Agency Folch
Location
Madrid, Spain
Year
2024
Customer
Elisava Madrid
Area
300 m2
Brand / Manufacturer
Actiu
Products used

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