An architectural concept project that began as the result of a 2005 awards competition is now embracing a hillside outside Plasencia in western Spain with views toward the Sierra de Gata mountains. The building serves as an auditorium and congress center for the city of Plasencia combining harsh, rocky habitat with translucent ETFE (for ethylene tetrafluoroethylene plastic) panels.
The auditorium's entryway is a bright warm orange, while the ETFE functions “like a raincoat,” Cano describes, in Plasencia’s mild climate. Perimeter ramps open to views and even weather at several points. Inside, the perimeter circulation areas and upper floors are planes of soft yellow with pale aquamarine floors and ceilings.
At night, the individualistic plastic center's ETFC skin glows around the rough natural landscape. While inside the auditorium, Cano describes, red seating, flooring, and the lower portions of its walls make the space a "warm heart” of the building.
Architectural Record reported the following: "The design further develops strategies Selgas and Cano first explored in their Congress Center for nearby Badajoz, including the use of contrasting colors, translucent plastic surfaces, and a variety of playful circular elements, here ranging from rounded glass doors to thick portholes and HVAC nozzles. The overall scheme, with its faceted geometry and maze-like circulation, echoes that of Rem Koolhaas’s Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal.... "
As Cano closes, “It’s like a rock that is poised over the landscape but could fly away at any moment.”
Learn more about the project here: (visit link).
