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This line that the architects
quote seems to indicate that a search for another form was
fruitless, that when the circle was used for the current building
it just worked. With the center of the circle occupied by
the auditorium, one wonders
if a uni-directional assembly space should occupy the same
shape as a sporting event seen in the round. In the case of
its current state, the circular shape allows for a certain
hierarchy, with circulation encircling
the auditorium and smaller rooms in a ring beyond. Most likely
it is the historical reference that predominates more than
functional concerns. |
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This historical linking is extended
-- or, more likely, complicated -- by the site's location
within a pentagonal bastion of the city's 17th century walls.
Certain lower level functions extend to this impenetrable
perimeter, but it's the plaza (and its repeated-circle-patterned
paving), the space between the circle and the pentagon that
exhibits these two strains of history the most. It is also
the from the plaza that the Congress Center finds its greatest
expression, the glowing cylinder of the auditorium rung by
parallel rows of tubing, spaced to create a screen and strengthen
the reading of the shape.
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One enters down a stair curving
opposite the building's circle, but roughly tangent to it.
Still outside, one finds another in-between
space, this time between the two circular layers. A hinged
door in the outer ring allows access
to the interior and the brightly painted circulation spaces
that play off the predominantly white surfaces and the ever-present
volume of the auditorium.
It may appear that the architects went a little crazy with
the circular motif rooted in Leonardo's assertion, but the
circles are assembled in a way that make the experience of
the place rewarding and, above all, memorable. |
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Badajoz Congress Center and Auditorium in Badajoz, Spain
by SeglasCano Arquitectos |
2008.04.07 |
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Click
on images below for larger views.
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