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Zaragoza Cultural Centre: Caixa Forum

Zaragoza Development design by Estudio Carme Pinós Architects in Aragón, Spain

30 Jan 2009

Caixa Forum Zaragoza – Zaragoza Cultural Centre

Location: Aragón, Spain
Dates built: 2009-12
Design: Estudio Carme Pinós Architects

Zaragoza Arquitectura, España:

Invited Architecture Competition win

One of a national network of centres run by the social foundation of Spanish bank La Caixa

CAIXAFORUM ZARAGOZA

Description + images from Estudio Carme Pinós Architects, 2 Apr 2009:

We started the Project considering two challenges:

First: a building capable of “making the city”, by its singularity as well as by the public spaces generated.
Second: a building that connects with the city and the new park through remote perspectives as one goes through it, but at the same time it should provide introspection in the exhibition halls.
That is, a building “creating city” which at the same time makes us a part of it as we inhabit it.

These two ways to approach the project are solved raising the exhibition halls in order to free the ground floor so the more open and transparent areas, such as the lobby and the shop, can be placed there. Our intention is to generate public space, taking the park towards the city and through the building; a space that will be lit at night with drawings coming from the metal sheet façade’s perforations. This metal sheet is also hiding the main structure supporting the elevated exhibition halls.

The garden is placed underneath the raised exhibition hall and semi-buried, so that it is also auditorium’s evacuation. This garden can also be understood as a lobby and exterior catering zone for the auditorium, so that it is connected directly to the city even when it is placed in the basement.

The two suspended halls are facing each other on different levels so that, once outside, the city can be seen above or below the other hall. We think that some relax areas should be placed in between the exhibition halls and this is why the connection between the halls is solved by escalators, a type of path that allows distant views, instead of elevators that take us out of context and don’t offer the decompression needed between exhibitions.

At the top of the building with views to the city and the new urban park, we placed the cafeteria and restaurant. On the other side, however, due to the level difference between halls, a terraced bar, in continuation to the interior restaurant, is generated, giving magnificent views to the Ranillas meander and the Expo Zaragoza

Our Project appears as a sculpture element in the middle of the park, thanks to a singular and feasible structure.

We want our building to be a symbol of the technique’s progress and the culture’s generosity, to be the reflection of our time’s best qualities.

Shortlisted Architecture Practices:-

Ábalos & Sentkiewicz Architects, Madrid, Spain
Alejandro Zaera of Foreign Office Architects, London, UK
BCA Architecture, Barcelona, Spain
Carlos Ferrater, Barcelona, Spain
Estudio Carme Pinós Architects, Barcelona, Spain
Francisco Mangado, Pamplona, Spain

CaixaForum Zaragoza – Building Information

Name of Project: Caixaforum
Location: Zaragoza
Client: Obra Social “La Caixa”
Surface: Constructed: 6.300 m2
Budget: 11.000.000 €

Dates:
Competition: 2008
Basic Design Project: ongoing
Construction Works beginning: estimated 2010
Construction Works finalization: estimated 2012

Collaborators:
Main architect: Carme Pinós Desplat
Architects: Samuel Arriola (project director), Elsa Martí, Alberto Feijoo
Structure: Robert Brufau i Associats
Electricity, Plumbing: INDUS
Model: Miquel Lluch
Computer graphics: Daniel Cano

Photographs: Estudio Carme Pinós

Caixa Forum Zaragoza images / information from Estudio Carme Pinós Architects

Estudio Carme Pinos

Location: Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain, southwestern Europe