• City Council Start the works of Sol: 12 months for its complete pedestrianization
  • City Hall This will be the new Puerta del Sol: more spaces, less chaos and without the dome of the Cercanías

The new Puerta del Sol, whose works started on March 22, 2022, will not have an inauguration due to the electoral deadlines, although it will be accessible to the people of Madrid the first week of April. In this opening, neither the entrance to the Cercanías -known as whale- nor the disposition of the equestrian statue of Carlos III will have been changed.

This has been assured at a press conference after the Governing Board by the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who has indicated that "inauguration as such will not be". "We are already in an election period and we want to be extraordinarily respectful, and there can be no inaugurations or official acts by the City Council," he added.

The delegate of the area of Works and Equipment, Paloma García Romero, had dated April 3 the opening of the new Sun to the people of Madrid. A day later, municipal and regional elections are called in the Official State Gazette (BOE) throughout the country, which prevents, as explained by the councilor, inaugurations.

Municipal sources have transferred to Europa Press that "having found archaeological remains, the fountain that will house the statue of Carlos III will not be in operation that week, since it requires a setting time and the construction of a complex hydraulic system".

This source also "requires a very precise leveling and, likewise, it is necessary to guarantee the safety and tightness of the underground infrastructures of Adif and Metro".

In this way, Sol will show his new image "the week of April 3" with the "exception" of the 'whale' and the statue. On the new location of Carlos III, which will be in front of La Mallorquina on a sheet of water, Almeida has pointed out that "it can be produced approximately in 10 or 15 days after it opens completely".

In this reform, the two current fountains disappear and an oval-shaped fountain is included that will house inside the equestrian statue of the "mayor of Madrid".

Entrance to the Cercanías

Regarding the change of entrance to the Cercanías, the remodeling of the Puerta del Sol, which involves its definitive pedestrianization, contemplates replacing the current entrance with a transparent pavilion with the aim of "freeing the square from obstacles that prevented a total vision of the space".

This pavilion that replaces the whale will have an oval shape so that angles will not be formed that prevent the view, also integrating with the curved shapes of the facades of the square.

It will be built entirely of structural glass, supports, enclosure and roof, except for a central steel beam supported by three supports of the same material. In addition, the vertical structure is made of structural glass ribs, whilethe horizontal structure consists of a lightened steel central beam supported by three steel supports, and secondary rib-shaped beams of structural glass.

According to The Trust Project criteria

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