“In Europe, Madrid was playing in a lower league than it deserved. The major European capitals are Paris and London. And then, there’s another tier: Berlin, Milan, Amsterdam… [but] Madrid wasn’t even there.”
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The three projects are distinct. And yet, they share an intuition. Madrid no longer behaves like the open and relatively egalitarian city that it once was. Or, at least, not only like that. There have always been clubs for Madrid’s elite, but leisure activities mostly revolved around the bar: a democratic space, open to everyone (in principle). The new clubs reflect the expansion of the elite social class and replicate its principle of exclusion. Forbes House has an admissions committee. Vega has a selection process. And, at Metrópolis, memberships sold out before the club even opened. These are places where who gets in is just as important as who gets left out.