Sevilla Architects Association

Description

In order to discover what the site needed, Gabriel Ruiz Cabrero and Enrique Perea Caveda spent entire afternoons in front of the empty lot. Influenced by the two books of the moment, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (Robert Venturi) and The Architecture of the City (Aldo Rossi), the authors proposed a project that at the same time dialogued with the city and with the tradition of architectural modernity. No one better than Rafael Moneo, who headed the jury, to assess the virtues of the proposal, which finally won. The building is divided along the diagonal of the site into two bodies at two different heights. The taller one, at six storeys, resolves the corner between Calle Mercedes de Velilla and Plaza de San Pedro with an emphatic brick volume whose façade extends towards Plaza del Cristo de Burgos through a screen with large openings that reveal the triangular courtyard. The interior façade, in contrast to the exterior, is glazed, organising the different uses of the programme, which includes offices and exhibition spaces.