Ricardo Bofill: Villa Cultural de Prado Valladolid, under construction
Project type
The last building, now under construction, is the Villa Cultural de Prado, the outcome of a project which the government of Castille and León commissioned from Barcelona architect Ricardo Bofill.
The area where the complex will rise extends into the two districts of "Huerta del Rey" and "Parquesol" along the banks of the Pisuerga River; the cultural centre is expected to cost around 36 million euro and is due to open in 2005.
The project which the Catalan architect presented in July 2001 convinced the adjudicators not only because of his aesthetic canons, but above all because of his responses to specific technical requirements, as demonstrated by the functionality of various spaces and the building's perfect integration with its surrounding environment.
Villa Cultural de Prado is an educational centre incorporating three buildings with different plans; each volume has its own particular form and separate entrance, even though the various different areas are connected with one another.
The architectural complex houses the Symphony Orchestra's Auditorium, with 2200 seats, a Chamber Music Auditorium with 494 seats, a Professional Conservatory of Music, an Experimental Theatre and Valladolid's School of Drama.
The roof of the building has a wavy form, and the building is covered entirely with glass on the outside using new technologies which give the three buildings a very modern look so that they stand out in clear contrast with the old town centre of the Spanish city.
The complex is a unique work of architecture which adds character to an area of new construction with its brilliance and dynamic forms.
Bofill's project covers 32,000 square metres, and each building is about eighteen metres high; in addition to the facilities described, the Villa de Prado centre will also include several multi-purpose halls.
The space between the buildings is a big covered piazza which will offer opportunities for interaction, promoting communication and cultural exchange among students registered in different programmes in the centre.
The piazza also contains a restaurant and two cafeterias, which will also be open on Sundays and holidays to attract visitors to the centre.
The Conservatory and the School of Drama each have separate entrances so that performances of music or theatre in public areas will not interfere with educational programmes. The symphony orchestra auditorium is now Spain's biggest concert hall, as the country previously had no hall with a capacity of over 1700; construction of this hall is the final stage in the project, and the most delicate, as it involves completion of the interiors.
The latest techniques for measurement and regulation of sound are being used to guarantee excellent acoustics: sound waves should be propagated to every corner of the auditorium at exactly the same instant in time, so that reverberation will be between 1.8 and two seconds.
Ricardo Bofill's complex is one of the greatest expressions of the post-modern movement, emphasising the themes of light and space.
We might call it a challenge to current architectural trends, to the point that the architect himself has called his project a daring structure revealing a desire to renew the usual schemes of construction.
Floriana De Rosa
Link:
http://www.bofill.com/change/website-ingles/index2.htm
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