City of Culture of Galicia
Encyclopedia
City of Culture of Galicia is a complex of cultural buildings in Santiago de Compostela
, A Coruña
, Galicia, Spain
, designed by architect Peter Eisenman
and office. The buildings are an extreme challenge to construct as the design of them makes them look like rolling hills with high degree contours. Nearly every window of the thousands that are part of the external façade has its own custom shape. It is set to be complete in 2012, taking 10 years to complete.
In February 1999 the Parliament of Galicia
held an international design competition
for a cultural center on Mount Gaiás. The entrants were Ricardo Bofill
, Manuel Gallego Jorreto, Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer, Steven Holl
, Rem Koolhaas
, Daniel Libeskind
, Juan Navarro Baldeweg
, Jean Nouvel
, Dominique Perrault
, Cesar Portela, Santiago Calatrava
, who later withdrew his proposal, and Eisenman, whose proposal was selected for both conceptual uniqueness and exceptional harmony with the place.
The concept of the project is a new peak on Monte Gaiás, made up of a stony crust reminiscent of an archaeological site divided by natural breaks that resemble scallops, the traditional symbol of Compostela.
The building site has also become the base for the development of a public transparency urban experiment by the Spanish architect and artist Andrés Jaque
. With Jaque's 12 Actions to Make the Cidade da Cultura Transparent, the building site was equipped with devices that make the political implications and ecological extension of the construction works understandable for the general public.
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
, A Coruña
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
, Galicia, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, designed by architect Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman is an American architect. Eisenman's professional work is often referred to as formalist, deconstructive, late avant-garde, late or high modernist, etc...
and office. The buildings are an extreme challenge to construct as the design of them makes them look like rolling hills with high degree contours. Nearly every window of the thousands that are part of the external façade has its own custom shape. It is set to be complete in 2012, taking 10 years to complete.
In February 1999 the Parliament of Galicia
Parliament of Galicia
The Galician Parliament is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It is formed by 75 deputies . Deputies are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of the Xunta of Galicia, by...
held an international design competition
Architectural design competition
An architectural design competition is a special type of competition in which an organization or government body that plans to build a new building asks for architects to submit a proposed design for a building. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals...
for a cultural center on Mount Gaiás. The entrants were Ricardo Bofill
Ricardo Bofill
Ricardo Bofill, also Ricard Bofill Leví is a Catalan Spanish postmodernist architect.He studied at the School of Architecture in Geneva, Switzerland...
, Manuel Gallego Jorreto, Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer, Steven Holl
Steven Holl
Steven Holl is an American architect and watercolorist, perhaps best known for the 1998 Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland, the 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the celebrated 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,...
, Rem Koolhaas
Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, USA. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural...
, Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind, is an American architect, artist, and set designer of Polish-Jewish descent. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect...
, Juan Navarro Baldeweg
Juan Navarro Baldeweg
Juan Navarro Baldeweg is a Spanish architect and professor at the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid ....
, Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l'Architecture...
, Dominique Perrault
Dominique Perrault
Dominique Perrault is a French architect. He became world known for the design of the French National Library, distinguished with the Mies van der Rohe Prize in 1996....
, Cesar Portela, Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava Valls is a Spanish architect, sculptor and structural engineer whose principal office is in Zürich, Switzerland. Classed now among the elite designers of the world, he has offices in Zürich, Paris, Valencia, and New York City....
, who later withdrew his proposal, and Eisenman, whose proposal was selected for both conceptual uniqueness and exceptional harmony with the place.
The concept of the project is a new peak on Monte Gaiás, made up of a stony crust reminiscent of an archaeological site divided by natural breaks that resemble scallops, the traditional symbol of Compostela.
The building site has also become the base for the development of a public transparency urban experiment by the Spanish architect and artist Andrés Jaque
Andrés Jaque
Andrés Jaque is an architect. His work explores the role architecture plays in the making of societies. He has been considered one of the most challenging contemporary European architects.-Life and career:...
. With Jaque's 12 Actions to Make the Cidade da Cultura Transparent, the building site was equipped with devices that make the political implications and ecological extension of the construction works understandable for the general public.