Combining the aftermath of forest fires with one of the most visible areas of the ARCOmadrid fair, the Guest Lounge, might seem at first glance like a somewhat strange proposal. However, it was precisely that originality that captivated the jury in charge of deciding who will design that space each year: 350,000 Ha, the unanimously winning project submitted by Manuel Bouzas and SalazarSequeroMedina, makes things clear in its own title, which refers to the hectares devastated by fire in the summer of 2025.

In the very conception of the idea, the architects in charge played with this year’s central theme: from the initial invitation to reflect on two places within the fair, they wondered what would happen if one of those two places were outside, if it were an evoked space. Thus, on one hand, there is what has been built in the Guest Lounge and, on the other, those forests of the northwest peninsula that burned a few months earlier.

 

The evocation of that other place, distant in space and, also, in time, was achieved through a Material Palette for the Guest Lounge, for whose construction only wood recovered from the burned forests was used. Thanks to this, architects are seeking to shift the focus from prevention – important in itself – to reaction.

Bouzas explained in this same publication that burnt wood must be removed from forests within a maximum of six months to prevent diseases from emerging that contaminate the soil. That wood, collected by Finsa, the project’s main sponsor, still has a value that is often overlooked, something they wanted to highlight by using it for the construction of the Guest Lounge.

Thus, segments of the bark of the burned tree were reused as coatings, light planes were constructed through the sawn wood of the interior, and for the panelling of the restaurant, chipboard panels derived from the crushing of unusable branches and trunks were incorporated.

The other idea that articulates 350,000 Ha, also centred on fire, is that of the Fire: to generate a warm and welcoming atmosphere, monumental and intimate at the same time, that evokes the ancestral power of fire to bring human beings together. The Guest Lounge space is conceived as a large, shadowy area pierced by soft light, which generates well-being and calm, something that contrasts with the incessant activity of the fair and with the very origin of the materials used.

A project born from what the authors call a generational concern: reflection on architecture and its impacts, on scarcity, sustainability and how to rethink the use and value given to different materials.