By the summer days, seated in front of my computer in the middle of Prague, with enormous desire to walk in sand along the beach and sifting sand through the fingers, I dream about my favourite places in the south of Europe. To my favourite one belong definitely Madrid; I can say it to you any time of the day without hesitation. By the memory I think on the narrow high canyons streets, on the hot stone tiles, cold long shadows under the pine trees, the streets suddenly opening to the squares and lovely fragrant cafés outside, which the local people can give the shining spark of life. It seems that they are different from our towns; it seems that people who perceive and love them are different and use them the other way round. But where is the true? These texts ´Places with the culture´ can remind us the importance of public space that surround us and can put us in the head answers and questions about the diversity and intensity how to use the public spaces in between the individual nations.
With pleasure I turn back now all my thoughts to Madrid, Spanish capital lying at the geographical centre of the Iberian Peninsula. Historically and by the importance always cities around, Toledo and Segovia, surpassed the Madrid; but by the enormous cultural offer with the galleries and museums Madrid is lively colourful cultural centre of the Spain.
The jewel of the cultural centres of Europe Caixa Forum is situated in the heart of Madrid’s cultural district, opposite the Botanical gardens. Contribution Fundación La Caixa, which supports most of the cultural events in the country, supported the realization of the design to change power station into a cultural centre. Beautiful imaginative reconstruction was done by renowned Swiss team of architects Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron.
The main wall of the neighbouring house on the square in front of the centre is decorated with a vertical exuberant garden of 600 m2 from the Paris studio of Patrick Blanc.
The entrance space under the building is a key element in building design. The historic building used architects as the base for the new modern one, which you enter from the shelter, like from the under skirt. Buildings surrounded the cultural centre by the narrow streets, so to design the main entrance under the building was perfect solution and expand the small space around under.
External walls of the power station were maintained, only the ground floor were eliminated to create a public space under the building, creating a shady place of entry or possibility of meeting and pull in the visitors. It is a unique moment when the whole building floats very low over you and as the magnet attract you the metal plated entrance with metal ceiling and on going metal staircase.
In the main foyer on the first floor, with the gleaming stainless floor reflecting linear lights, the visitors decide which direction takes. The underground parts of a building are a theater – auditorium and facilities maintenance building with several parking spaces. In the above ground floors are galleries, restaurants, offices and other multi-purpose spaces.
The architects sat on existing brickwork building construction metal crown irregularly perforated and permeable direct light to the upper floors. There artfully daylight penetrates into the interior, where the metal valance facade shows up nicely in the restaurant and is in perfect harmony with artificial lighting with minimum impact on the environment.
Through the museum is nice passing and it is not just a place for tourist and random passers by. People come across here with friends and museum is part of the cultural life in Madrid. I was in Caixa Forum on a breathtaking exhibition by French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue ´Floating world´ and that weekend I visited museum twice.
Architects:
architecture office Herzog &de
Meuron
Authors: Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron – http://www.herzogdemeuron.com/
Location:
Madrid, Španělsko
Investor: Obra Social Fundación LaCaixa
Project area: 11 000 m2
Project area: 11 000 m2
Realization:
2004-8
Web: http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/
