Buildings
Niemeyer Designing Cultural Complex in Spain
(archrecord.construction.com - 04/27/2006)
By David
Cohn
 |
 |
| Image courtesy the
architects |
Brazil’s
Oscar Niemeyer, 1989 recipient of Spain's Prince of Asturias
Prize, is designing a cultural complex dedicated to the prizes.
Niemeyer will turn 99 this year.
The $30 million, 100,000-square-foot
center will be a key element in the urban revitalization of
Avilés, a former industrial port in the Principality
of Asturias, on Spain's north coast. Princes of Asturias Prizes
are awarded to recipients from several fields in an annual
ceremony in the nearby city of Oveido. The prizes are celebrating
their 25th anniversary this year.
The complex will occupy a 150,000 square
foot plaza at the head of Avilés' narrow bay, connecting
the old city on one bank with new developments on former industrial
land on the opposite side. A concrete hemisphere containing
a large auditorium for concerts and meetings will be connected
to a wave-like concrete arch housing a museum by a floating,
serpentine-shaped canopy. A curved block of offices encloses
the plaza on its landward side. The Principality of Asturias
will finance the project. Niemeyer is currently working on
projects in Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, Russia and elsewhere.
|
