Auditorium in Medina

The building settles into an urban context of limited architectonic value and hardly any formal identity. Its compact volumetric and material character attracts the attention due to two main aspects: one an urban aspect, for enriching the views and regenerating the urban scene that configures the space around the building; and the other a language aspect, for showing a vibrant image which adds quality to the place by itself but specially by contrast with the context.
The building sits down on a concrete base considered as the main level, for it creates a public open anteroom, above the street level, which allows the contemplation of the surroundings from another point of view and creates a new urban situation.
There is a double reading of the building skin which establishes the relationship between inner and outer space. The skin which covers the whole volume appears as a suit of armor defining an horizontal rhythm of steel scales, giving unity and horizontal continuity. This first skin, opaque and shiny, separates from the constructed volume when it reaches the access façade looking into the public square, to create, by subtraction of alternate slats, a space of air, light and metallic glints configured by an impressive stained steel lattice constructed by structural profiles.
Inside, the auditorium gets covered by a second skin with white creased surface, in contrast with the exterior metallic scales, and reminding Borromini surfaces style, continuous and made of one material, searching for the distortion of the space by signing the walls with dots of light, broken up into an apparent chaos.
This main room enjoys the classical proportion of a double cube, being one of its greatest achievements the use of unusual materials for this type of building to obtain an exemplary acoustics.

Location: Spain - Medina del Campo____Year: 1999____Status: Built

Models and Sketches   Building Process   Finished Work