City of culture Galicia

This project is located on Monte Gaiás a small hill overlooking Santiago de Compostela, province of Galicia of North-western Spain.

Designed by American architect, Peter Eisenman. The project started in 1999 and still on going. The cost of the project is about €400million.

The project has 6 buildings:

-        The Galician museum (172,000 sq ft)

-        International art center (135,000 sq ft)

-        The center for music and performing arts (222,000 sq ft)

-        Galician/newspaper archives (86,000sq ft)

-        Library of Galicia (122,000sq ft)

-        The sixth building would house the services for the other five buildings (50,000 sq ft).

The design evolves from the superposition of 3 sets of information. The first information the street plan of the medieval center of Santiago is overlaid on a topographic map of the hillside site (which overlooks the city).

The second, a modern Cartesian grid is laid over these medieval routes. The third information is through computer modelling software.  The topography of the hillside is allowed to distort the two flat geometries; thus generating a topological surface that reposition old and new in simultaneous matrix never seen before.

The building is linked in by 5 main pedestrian trodden path which leads to a central plaza, with a 25 hectares of parkland surrounding the building. The building is also interconnected by street plaza equipped with the highest degree of development of technology.

The largest building is the performing art theatre which stands 42.5 meter high. The heights of all the buildings rises in gentle curve that seen to reconstruct the shape of the hilltop with the collective roofline. Roof made from concrete.

Photo credits: Iñigo Bujedo Aguirre

                        Paisajes Espanoles

                        Manuel Gonzalez Vicente courtesy the foundation of culture gaiás.