One of Madrid’s most iconic architectural landmarks, The Crystal Palace (Palacio De Cristal) is currently undergoing a meticulous and robust restoration. A centerpiece of the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum in El Retiro Park, The Crystal Palace was built in 1887. Nearly 150 years later, the historic site needed decades-old paint removed from its intricate iron framework.
When looking for the best surface preparation method for this project, other abrasive blasting methods were immediately ruled out. The Crystal Palace’s iron supports are set directly against large glass panels. Other abrasives' high rebound risked damaging or shattering the nearby glass. With this primary concern in mind, the restoration team sought a highly precise, low-rebound solution that would remove the old layers of paint without harming the historic structure and its glass panels.
One of the key advantages of using Sponge-Jet for this restoration project is the ability to work with minimal containment. Only a simple mesh was needed to close off the work area, reducing pre-project and restaging setup time. Further, thanks to Sponge Media's minimal dust generation and low rebound, other trades restoring The Crystal Palace were able to perform their work simultaneously.
Waste generation from using Sponge Media is notably lower than other abrasive blasting processes, with many fewer tons of waste to remove. This not only saved the Spanish government the time it would take to remove the significantly higher volume of other abrasive waste, but it ultimately resulted in substantial waste disposal cost-savings.
As The Crystal Palace restoration work continues, this project showcases many of the core benefits of the Sponge-Jet system; low dust, low rebound coatings removal, with an added benefit of environmental savings due to Sponge Media's recyclability.