Today we are focusing on three spaces in Madrid where you can experience sustainability in all its forms: from the chair you are sitting on to the ingredients on your plate. Infinito Delicias, Mo de Movimiento and Tramo are disrupting the way places and people connect with the planet.
Creating a sustainable space for people and the planet
When you first step into Infinito Delicias, you can’t quite figure out what this place is. Part co-working space, part restaurants, part event venue and community meeting point. Infinito Delicias, is the definition of a sustainable community driven space.
Receiving the Holcim 2023 Award for Europe's most sustainable project, Infinito Delicias was born from the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation alongside Husos, Elii and Ultrazul. Together, they set out to demonstrate how this innovative project of architecture can be regenerative, inclusive and a driver for transformation for communities.
The result is regenerative design space powered by solar energy, reducing consumption, integrating vegetation into facades and terraces, local suppliers and efficient waste management. It is a representation of a circular economy and how projects with a strong social and environmental impact can be economically viable and generate change at both a local and global level.
[Photo from: https://www.infinitodelicias.com/es/el-edificio ]
A Kitchen That Bets on Community:
With social dimension as an essential part of sustainability, Infinito Delicias has two spaces dedicated to integrate economic, environmental and social criteria.
Cocina Beta is a testing ground for entrepreneurs and chefs who want to build sustainable, profitable food businesses but do not have the space or support to establish it.
From May 2026, for 12 weeks, the program is supporting the project designed by Alberto Ballarin Sansonetti and Reyes De Wit. A contemporary and sustainable take on Italian culinary tradition.
Alongside Cocina Beta, the restaurant UNMAR brings the philosophy behind Infinito Delicias to practice.
The entirety of UNMAR was designed to generate circularity: from avoiding food waste to the construction of the space.
Lucas Muñoz, designed all the tables and chairs from leftover timber of the project (which are sourced from FSC-certified sustainable pine plantations). The lamps are crafted from expanded polystyrene using lemon peel extracts, and the spotlights are reused to create focal points of light to give second life to material that would have otherwise been thrown away.
Infinito Delicias is a prime example of an organisation promoting behavioral change. Less about telling people what to do, and more about shaping the environment in which decisions are made. Combining structured frameworks with design-led thinking is something Colectivo knows well.
Mo de Movimiento: Every Material Has a Reason
Mo de Movimiento is another example on how design and sustainability don’t just co-exist, they strengthen each other.
Led by Proyectos Conscientes, this project brought together designers, curators, sustainability specialists, engineers, and a construction company with a shared goal to create a space that is good for people, good for the plant, and viable as a business.
The moment you walk in, you can see how they have repurposed materials. The original staircase was relocated rather than removed. The wood from the former theater was disassembled and reassembled into all of the restaurant's furniture. The kitchen is tiled with ceramics leftover from other construction projects. The benches were refashioned from demolition rubble.
A System That Gives Back What It Takes
The design is particularly attentive to the energy use and environmental impact. Their two wood-fired ovens, fuelled by pruning waste, form the heart of a system of radiators that connects radiators, underfloor heating, and a copper coil designed to recover and reuses thermal energy.
Even the staff uniforms and kitchen reflect the ethos of Mo de Movimiento: restored second hand shirts dyed with natural pigments, and waxed aprons to reduce the need for washing.
The kitchen has a commitment to local producers, choosing them not just for product quality, but for shared values, respect for craft, and mindfulness about what ends up on the client’s plate.
Continuing with projects done by Proyectos Conscientes, TRAMO is their second sustainable driven restaurant in Madrid.
Proyectos Conscientes “brother restaurant”: TRAMO
Right in Madrid's Prosperidad neighbourhood, Tramo restaurant used to be the legendary concert venue El Garaje Hermético. Therefore, instead of erasing its history the architecture firm of Selgascano, led by José Selgas and Lucía Cano, chose to honour it.
With interventions kept to a minimum, when you walk into TRAMO you can see how the circular economy principle here is not just decorative but structural as well.
The exposed original concrete, a skylight to let in that clear blue Madrid sky, recycles wood from the original building used for seat backs, doors and bathroom fronts. Any other material came from bioconstructions sources avoiding toxic materials during the whole process. The building is almost entirely energy self-sufficient. The designer, Andreu Carulla, wanted a natural heating and cooling system built directly into the furniture in TRAMO. There are over a thousand handcrafted ceramic modules to form a series of benches that double as duct channeling outside air. The rainwater and water from the sinks are filtered and reused for toilets and plants.
A Kitchen thought for the People and Place
Much like Mo de Movimiento, Tramo's menu follows the principal of working directly with small-scale Spanish producers, regenerative livestock farmers, and sustainable fishing operations. Not only are the ingredients an important part of the kitchen; Tramo’s commitment to people is worth mentioning. It partners with non profit organisations, to help individuals with barriers to employment, like Asociación Norte Joven, Fundación Tomillo, and Fundación Raíces.
Sustainability Is Already Being Designed, Are You Ready to Build Yours?
Infinito Delicias, Mo de Movimiento, and Tramo are proof that the circular economy is not a distant ambition but something already being built right here in Madrid.
What unites these three spaces is not just a shared commitment to the environment. It is a deeper understanding that real sustainability touches everything at once and that it can happen through deliberate strategy, design decisions and willingness to rethink the way things have always been done.
That is precisely the kind of thinking Colectivo exists to support.
At Colectivo, we help ambitious organisations embed sustainability across strategy, people, products, and culture.
Whether you are looking to future-proof your business with a clear sustainability roadmap, activate your teams around a shared purpose, or redesign your products and services for circularity, we bring the frameworks, the expertise, and the co-design approach to make it real and make it last. If you are ready to build yours, let's talk.
About the Author
Emilia Aristimuño, Colectivo Fellow
Emilia Aristimuno is a service designer, UX designer, and creative storyteller focused on behavioural design, community building, collaboration, and creating spaces where ideas can thrive. Based in Madrid, her work explores how to connect the dots between people and business in order to shape more user-centred systems, products, and experiences.
Her experience spans service design, user research, customer experience, event coordination, creative copywriting, graphic design, and project management. Through her freelance work and creative projects, Emilia has supported workshops, retreats, wellness events, digital communities, branding initiatives, and content strategies that bring people together in meaningful and engaging ways.
Emilia brings an open, curious, and collaborative mindset to everything she does. With interests across storytelling, food, music, design, and community, she is especially drawn to projects that create connection, spark creativity, and help people learn, share, and grow.
