Atlético Madrid: An experience like no other…

When Atlético Madrid revealed their slogan ‘Another Way of Living’ at the beginning of this year, we couldn’t have imagined how apt this would be as a slogan for 2020 – not only for Atlético supporters such as myself, but for people everywhere.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on all of us but like any loyal fanbase, we haven’t given up and people all around the world continue to support one another during the good times and the bad.

On more than one occasion, Atlético Madrid has come close to disappearing – whether it be by relegation or even the Spanish Civil War. Despite these challenges, the club has enjoyed plenty of success and in the last 100+ years, what remains constant is the strength of its fans, players and employees in the face of adversity.

Hyphen was first commissioned by Atlético Madrid in 2016, to work on its flagship store in the famous Gran Via street. Since then, we’ve helped to deliver a variety of projects for the club across many locations including high streets, shopping malls and even bus kiosks. We’ve also completed numerous projects within the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium – from pop ups to retail stores and most recently, its museum.

The museum is arguably the most important project that we’ve delivered for Atlético to-date, as this is where visitors can learn all about the history of club and its team. Similar to the stores that came before, it embodies a ‘street’ style with industrial, iron and concrete finishes that are more relatable (and accessible) to fans than high-end gloss finishes that the club’s competitors tend to opt for.

The design is centred around experience and what it truly means to be an Atlético supporter. The theme of ‘Another Way of Living’ comes through in the use of 360-degree interactive video and audio experiences. Key features include:

  • ‘Defending our colours’ – a VR experience where you can see yourself kitted out head to toe in Atlético colours.
  • ‘Goals!’ – where you can experience the most famous goals in the club’s history.
  • ‘Heartbeat’ – where you can take a virtual tour of the trophy room…

… and so much more!

As executive architects, we helped to turn the club’s concept into a reality whilst keeping Atlético’s DNA in mind. The amount of video and audio features in this project required extensive technical coordination but the most important consideration was making sure that the club’s colours shone through.

For clubs such as Atlético Madrid, colour plays an important role in their branding and marketing. Football shirts represent more than just a fashion accessory; they are worn as part of an identity. This ‘belonging’ is easily identified by the colours associated with the club and it’s vital that this is represented not only in the merchandise, but also in the stores themselves – from the walls, to the ceilings and floor finishes.

Due to the pandemic, most of the site monitoring was carried out through video conferencing.

Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved, the museum was successfully delivered before the beginning of the new football season and I personally can’t wait to see what the future holds for Atlético Madrid!