Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2008
We would like to make “the most beautiful building” for the Museo de al Memoria de
Andalucía (Andalusia’s Museum of Memory) in Granada. The MA. A museum that
wishes to transmit the entire history of Andalusia. As early as Roman times, Strabo
described the inhabitants of Andalusia as “the most cultivated of the Iberians, who
have laws in verse.”
Our project for the MA is a building in line with the Central Headquarters of the
CAJA GRANADA Savings Bank that we finished in 2001. We propose a podium
building measuring 60x120 m and rising three stories, so that its upper floor
coincides with the podium of the main CAJA GRANADA building. And its façade as
well. Everything is arranged around a central courtyard, in elliptical form in which
circular ramps rise, connecting the three levels and creating a very interesting
spatial tension. The dimensions of the elliptical courtyard have been taken from the
courtyard of the Palace of Charles the V in the Alhambra.
And to crown it all, as if it were a Gate to the City, a strong vertical piece emerges,
the same height and width as the main building of the CAJA GRANADA. It thus
appears before the highway that circles Granada as a screen-façade that sends
messages over the large plasma screens that will cover it entirely. Like Piccadilly
Circus in London or Times Square in New York.
And to finish the entire operation, a large horizontal platform all the way to the River,
the MA open FIELD that will serve as a public space in that new area of the city of
Granada.
The new building, silent in its forms, is resounding in its elements to communicate
the messages of the new millennium in which we are already immersed.
El MA de Granada, EL MÁS HERMOSO EDIFICIO
“Se trata de hacer el más hermoso edificio”, así empieza la memoria del Proyecto
del nuevo Centro Cultural que, para la Memoria de Andalucía nos encargó CAJA
GRANADA. Eso queremos que llegue a ser: el edificio más hermoso.
El MA. El MA de Granada. Suena bien: el MA. Suena muy bien, el MA, como si del
mar, de la mar se tratara. De esos dos mares en los que se mira la tierra andaluza.
De esos dos mares transmisores de la Cultura de la que está empapada toda la
Historia de Andalucía, la Memoria de Andalucía.
Location: Avenida de las Ciencias s/n, in line with the Central Headquarters of the Caja
Granada Savings Bank, also work of Alberto Campo Baeza.
Project: 2006
Construction: 2009
Area: 15.000 m2
Budget: 30.000.000 €
Building Firms: Estructuras Reina María S.L., Grupo Salmerón, Metalistería Torcuato López
S.L., Aislamientos Tabiplac S.L., AFF S.L.U., I.T. Curiel, Crespo y Blasco S.A., Flamesa, P.R.S.
Proyectos e Instalaciones S.L., Kone Elevadores S.A., Andarivel
PLOT
In the intersection between the Genil River and the surrounding Highway of Granada.
Dimensions: 132 x 63 m.
Area: 8315,90 m2
BUILDING
PODIUM BUILDING
Dimensions: 114,3 x 54,3 meters
Height: 3 storeys. 15 meters.
SCREEN BUILDING
Dimensions: 54,3 x 6,3 meters.
Height: 10 storeys. 50 meters from foundations. The same height and width as the main
building of the CAJA GRANADA. There is a viewpoint in the last floor, with wonderful views to
the Alhambra, Sierra Nevada and Sierra Elvira.
ELLIPTICAL COURTYARD
The dimensions of the elliptical courtyard have been taken from the courtyard of the Palace of
Charles the V in the Alhambra.
Major axis: 42 m.
Minor axis: 30 m.
Height: 15 m.
HELICOIDAL RAMPS
The outside diameter: 26 m.
The inside diameter: 20 m.
Width: 3 m.
Structure: Steel
AREA
15.000 m2.
FUNCTIONS
Museum: Podium Building (Basement Level and Ground Floor).
Temporal exhibitions: Podium Building (First Floor).
Workshops: Podium Building (Basement Level).
Theater with retractile stands: Podium Building
Library and mediatheque: Screen Building.
Restaurant: Last floor of the Screen Building.
STRUCTURE
Reinforced concrete.
Commissioned in 2004.
Beginning of the construction: July 2006.
Opening: May 2009.