The alley of Calle Serrano, 41 languished.

The glory days of the nightclub

that bore his name had long been left behind.

Closed premises, dirty floors, poor lighting... The passageway that gave access to the car park had become

a dark and insecure place

that it was scary to go through.

However, a new project wants to turn this area into the fashionable place in the capital.

The initiative, named

Galerías Serrano

, aims to revitalize this building by the architect Juan Antonio Ridruejo, one of the few remaining examples of brutalist architecture in Madrid.

The businessman Kike Sierra has obtained the transfer of

four premises with very different concepts

so that the public can have experiences and live diverse fantasies.

Thus, in the center of Madrid he has built a tent that takes the client to the Sahara desert.

Sierra defines the Nómada restaurant with Lebanese-Andalusian food, which opened its doors last October, in this way: «You are in the middle of the Golden Mile and

you find an oasis».

Belly dance at the Nómada restaurant.

Crossing the passage, the visitor discovers a totally surprising place in the heart of the city:

tents surrounded by vegetation

, waterfalls, adobe houses, shishas, ​​latticework, clay pots...

A haven that opens at sunset with

happy hour

, performances and

live performances

by African musicians and belly dancers.

Just below Nómada is

the Istar club

, dedicated to the Babylonian goddess of love, life and fertility and which is accessed by crossing a waterfall.

It is a cool

afro -

house style

nightclub

, which maintains the same concept and is decorated with candles and terracotta painted brick furniture as if we were entering a temple.

The space, inaugurated last February, works with table reservations and has performances

by the top international DJs such

as Francis Mercier, Ramyen or Ángel Sánchez.

The project is completed with

the Galician bar Carallo

, which opened in the middle of the pandemic, and

with Astro

, a restaurant in which futuristic aesthetics and Japanese cuisine converge and which will open next September.

«I have traveled a lot and I am interested in creating universes and cosmopolitan experiences that enhance the city.

In Madrid, deep down we are very classic and I don't like to repeat patterns, but to do different things.

People need fantasies to abstract themselves from reality

», relates Sierra.

The works of Nómada began in 2019, in the midst of a pandemic, which marked the project and reinforced the desire to

create open spaces

with a lot of ventilation.

The place has a huge terrace, but the interior part can also be opened.

“When we went to see the place for the first time, it gave us the feeling

of a nomadic camp

, which could be an oasis that takes you out of the city.

Now we are all nomads because we travel and are constantly on the move.

That is the concept”, says the interior designer Parolio, in charge of the project.

The decoration has been taken care of to the maximum and has worked with local craftsmen and cabinetmakers from Morocco and also with Andalusian potters.

example of brutalism

The complex is located at numbers 41 and 45 Calle Serrano in a unique building, an example of brutalism,

an architectural movement

born in post-war Britain.

This current, which was committed to showing raw materials

with large concrete blocks

, was highly despised in recent years, but now it is being rescued.

In Madrid, its maximum exponent is found in the mythical

White Towers

designed by Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza on Avenida de América.

Originally, the Serrano building was designed as a shopping center and until 2020 the ground floor of this office block was divided into commercial premises, almost all of which were already empty.

The property needs a reform that the community of owners wants to start, which supports

this revitalization work.

The block is completed with businesses such as

the Honest Greens healthy food restaurant

, the Five Guys burger joint, the Boutique Club disco, a Rodilla and a Vips that have been in this location for a lifetime, in addition to the Deviaje agency and the Abanca offices.

«We are trying to recover the brutalist roots of the building and highlight them.

He was an ugly lump.

We are restoring the columns and the original ceiling that had been covered with a grid.

For example, it

has two spiral staircases

that could be filled with vegetation”, says Sierra.

This businessman has an extensive hospitality experience behind him.

First he set up the cocktail bar with his friends

Tomorrow I don't go out

, then he jumped to the Liberty Supper Club nightclub and, in 2018, he hit the bell with Panthera, a restaurant that turns into a dance club, which is attended by athletes and

national and

international celebrities

. international.

Kike Sierra (behind) with his team, Juan Carlos Porras (right) and Javichu Manzano, at the Istar.J.

BARBANCHO

His energies are now focused on Galerías Serrano, which has become an obsession.

For this he had to persuade Paco Sanz, son of Lorenzo Sanz and

owner of the old nightclub,

with whom he has partnered in the Nómada restaurant.

In short, as the local manager, Juan Carlos Porras, assures, it is about creating a 360-degree experience so that the client can have dinner, smoke a hookah with his friends outside and then go down to dance at Istar

without leaving the site.

The Nómada barman prepares the cocktails.

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