Architects José Selgas and Lucía Cano - inaugurated in 2006

Architects' website (http://www.selgascano.com/) (currently under construction, featuring just contact information)

The Badajoz Congress Center is located inside a pentagonal shaped fortress, part of the 17th century city walls.
There used to be an old bullring in the site, dating back to 1859. The project uses the bullring's excavated footprint as a starting point, building the congress hall in the space where the arena used to be, and enveloping it with a semi-transparent skin made from fiberglass rings, that recreates the outer volume of the stands, thus creating a play of solid and void where the main volume is actually enclosing a void within which sits the solid of the congress hall. The cylindrical enclosure of the main hall is surrounded by translucent methacrylate pipes, turning it into a luminous volume at night.
In order to keep the clarity of the volume intact, the main access is done through a staircase going down from the public square in front of the building to an underground lobby, illuminated by skylights and sunken patios
I visited this building together with Pedro and Swank-e during his recent tour, and I think it turned out to be a pleasant surprise for all of us. It is a lot more than a cylinder that lights up at night, shown on some architectural magazines. Simple materials are used in unconventional ways, achieving interesting, unexpected results. There's a lot of play with textures, colour, and light. Finishes are sometimes (deliberately?) far from perfect, but nevertheless this is a great building to be in, I imagine it must have been a great fun to design too. I'm very glad we could make it there.

To start with, here's a Google Earth snapshot, showing the relation with the fortress and the surrounding urban fabric.

... and the corresponding Google Earth placemark.

The website of Palacios de Congresos de Extremadura (http://www.palaciosdecongresosdeextremadura.com/) (Badajoz and Merida Congress Centers) is currently under construction, but it has email contacts of both buildings. In order to visit you need to ask in advance.

Getting there
By car:
Driving from Portugal, take the A6 motorway towards the spanish border, and in Spain continue along spanish A5 motorway for just over 1 Kilometer. Take exit 407 (Badajoz Oeste) and head towards the city center.
Driving from Madrid, take the A5 but use exit 395 instead.
From Sevilla, take the A66 towards Merida and then the A5 to Badajoz, using the same exit.

By public transportation:
RENFE (http://www.renfe.es/) trains connect Badajoz with other major spanish cities, such as Madrid.
There are also some bus companies operating lines to and from Badajoz, such as AUTO RES (http://www.auto-res.net), not only with connections to other spanish cities but also with some portuguese cities.

Arriving at the site you see the stairs going down to the lobby and the main hall cylinder enclosed by the outer cylinder

Close up of the stairs and canopy

View from the opposite side. In the background you see the sloped ground going up to the fortress level

Square pavement detail - circular concrete slabs with dark round aggregates

Another view of the public space in front of the building. It's a shame that the tree planters are not coincident with the modulation of the floor slabs

Inside the lobby you have this long thin bench below a skylight. The wooden box to the right houses the reception and offices

Another view of the offices box, with a long horizontal window made with dark glass. Fluorescent tubes of different colors are used vertically along the window, held by a metallic structure and enclosed with clear acrylic.

Another view of the lobby, now inside the main cylindric space, below the main hall

Opposite view

Sofas are excavated on the floor below the inclined concrete ceiling

Mr. Hui inhaling his favourite type of fumes... :D

Inside the main hall. The walls are clad with translucent polycarbonate with the lighting behind. The ceiling is an ondulated surface made of wood and polycarbonate slats, letting in the light from a big skyklight above

The guy showing us around was kind enough to switch on the lights inside the walls for us to see

Close up of the stairs to the technical spaces

Backstage corridor to the dressing rooms. The protruding light fixtures must be about 1.2 meters above the ground, so you actually need to avoid hitting them as you walk through

Backstage stair in painted steel. Lighting is made with fluorescent tubes inside a clear polycarbonate box, placed about 30 centimeters above the handrail

Going back to the lobby. Rebar handrail, thick polycarbonate panels, orange vinyl floor and exposed concrete walls, the one on the left painted white and with a linear texture, resembling corrugated cardboard

Looking up

Stairs

Another view, showing the thread construction

Another view, one level up

And another

Foyer at street level. The methacrylate pipes outside are clearly visible in this shot

Detail of the slab edge and guardrail

Circulation spaces around the main hall. Note how the fire safety equipment is placed, the vertical element is actually the waterpipe

Last level

Looking down

We went all the way up so we could see the skylight and the structure holding the main hall ceiling, here it is...

Now moving on to the spaces adjacent to the fortress wall. The ground level of the fortress was maintained as a roof garden, and below new spaces were created. This is one of them, called the blue room, and it's a smaller conference room. That's the fortress wall on the left

From this room looking towards the main volume and across the patio around it

Following this sequence of spaces we have some multipurpose / exhibition rooms

Skylight

Stairs going up to the roof garden, with the same kind of light fixtures, but used at a different height

Opposite view

You get to the roof garden through a glass box, partially visible on the right (it was HOT in there)

The concentric cylinders

Close up of the fiberglass pipes defining the outer cylinder. You can see how they're "woven" with the vertical structure

Moving on along the exhibition spaces and around the main volume

In the end of this sequence of rooms we get to a small courtyard. The walls are exposed concrete, except one of them which is wood, with the same dimension used in the formwork. A figtree grows out of the wall, it was already there before the construction and the architects decided to keep it

Back in the lobby, it's time to check the toilets: same floor, walls in painted concrete (white, orange and black), light fixtures arranged along a strip alternating with mirrors, custom made pedal taps

The cubicle doors are big, from floor to ceiling and from side to side. The handles are placed slightly lower than usual, giving the illusion that the doors are bigger than they actually are

Back in the underground lobby, more of those funky light fixtures

A small patio with a figtree lets light in at one end of the lobby. The access to the patio was cut out in the concrete wall

To the left, one of the two stairs connecting the lobby with the courtyard between the main hall volume and the outer enclosure

Another view

Outside going up

The courtyard

Guardrail enclosing the stairs and the small patio with the figtree, cleverly designed using a single curved element with no need for intermediate intersections

Close up of a door

Back at the lobby, we were surprised to see that the lights had been turned on and there was now an orange glow coming out from the floor below the sofas and reflecting on the inclined surface above

Another view

This is the separation between the lobby and the outside, transparent till about 1 meter high and then an orange translucent box, also lit at this time

Stepping outside. It's curious to see that the floor slabs look like they have different shades of grey, when they're actually all made from the same white concrete with a linear texture (much like corrugated cardboard), that illusion is created by the way the random orientation of the texture reflects light

Light strips on the main entrance stairs

Another view. Interesting play between the recess for lighting and the (unnecessary) recess for the handrail

After this we had something to eat, as documented here (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showpost.php?p=93620&postcount=33). On our way back we had the opportunity to take a look at the trademark image of the building: Lit up at night

Another shot, with the entrance canopy. Unfortunately the lights on the stairs were switched off, otherwise we would have seen the effect of the red underside of the canopy with light

A final shot through the outer structure. The light between the methacrylate pipes and the glass wall behind is white and is placed on the top. It gives the ilusion of changing colour due to it losing intensity on its way down and reflecting the colors of the interior spaces

And this is all I have to show for now. Besides anyone's comments which are more than welcome, I hope we can see some more pictures posted by the other PPB members who visited the building... Especially some shots taken with Kevin's weapon of choice :)

stunning project. I am impressed. The structure holding of the main hall, the "relief structure" of the auditorium, the floor intgrated couch relax area, the floor ways, the nice place concept with the circles, trees set to scene in front of the building.Nice dialogue between colour and material use.this is architecture- a nice auditorium example which seems to be a "must see".
Not to forget, nice pictures, thank you.

Thanks, hadn't seen this building published...

What is methacrylate? And what is the function of the methacrylate pipes?

Interior shots of the auditorium... :D
Loved the building... and the companie..
Awaiting for Kevin shots... :craqueur:

What is methacrylate? And what is the function of the methacrylate pipes?
According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_methacrylate), "Methyl methacrylate is a chemical compound mostly known as the monomer for the production of the transparent plastic polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).", whatever that means...
The pipes work as a light filter and as a sun shading device, preventing direct sunlight from hitting the glass surfaces directly, while allowing the air to flow vertically between them and the glass (this region can get really hot during the summer - ask Kevin - you can easily get maximum temperatures above 40ºC).
Obviously they have an aesthetical function as well, you could have translucent panels for the same purpose but the effect wouldn't be the same.
Interior shots of the auditorium...
Thanks Pedro, nice set of pictures.

Thanks for posting these great images of a great project. I have not seen it published anywhere. A scoop for PPB2!

:clap:

But wait... there's more!:eek:

Sorry I took so long to attend to this thread. Here are my wide angle shots.

Entry foyer and the 'upside down bench' skylight

WOW!Really great project-I hadn't seen it published either-just great! :D

stairway from foyer to the space between the outer ring and the inner ring.

foyer space with the tilted concrete theatre seating inner

that weird space for the top row of seats as demonstrated by vOid

the glass canopy (hot box) that covers the roof garden access

auxiliary spaces in the outer ring under the fortification wall

looking back towards the inner ring

the space between

a close up of those rotated groovy concrete circular pavers

entry canopy and steps with lights on

night

weave

context from the back

oh, i almost forgot... the backstage areas

stairs between backstage areas and change rooms as already shown in vOid's photos.

the back of stage area, fly tower etc
that's it from me... have lots more pictures, but hey, gotta stop somewhere

wooh! it looks like a huge, glowing, spinning top at night. at first i didnt know what was behind that huge tilted wall with the sunken seatings. now i know its the underside of the theatre seatings. but honestly, the tilted wall looks to scary to me. other than that, its spectacular. thanks for the posts.

Thanks for these great shots, SWANK-E!
Just thought I'd add a site plan that shows how the building is located in relation to the city's historical center and defensive wall.

Found in Europaconcorsi (http://www.europaconcorsi.com/db/pub/scheda.php?id=13443). Some pictures and drawings of the building and a text by the architects (in spanish only) are also available there.

that weird space for the top row of seats as demonstrated by vOid

So from the top row of seats you get to see over the ceiling?
I thought it was a separate space above the theater, not part of it.

How do they fiter the light then? or is it not necesary?

I had seen pictures of that space before but could'nt comprehend all those tension cables, now I "get the picture"...!

Ok I love this project so Im going to ask sum iritating questions!!...the concrete-you say its white concrete?!But it looks very white-is it painted at all?(specifically the underside of the theatre seats?)...secondly the translucent wall on the inside of the courtyard-any idea what the structure of taht is?!more concrete/steel weavers?!Im confused as to how it all fits together!...and also extremely jealous that I can never specify doors like that!(climate!)Thanks! :D

So from the top row of seats you get to see over the ceiling?
I thought it was a separate space above the theater, not part of it.

How do they fiter the light then? or is it not necesary?

I had seen pictures of that space before but could'nt comprehend all those tension cables, now I "get the picture"...!
When you enter the top row of seats you see above the ceiling surface, as the pictures show. It's kind of weird, as it's the "reverse side" of the ceiling and thus something the audience normally wouldn't see. Although this is true for a very limited number of seats, personally I'm not too keen on this particular aspect of the building.
If by filtering the light you mean darkening the room, from what we saw I don't think that's possible. But if by that you mean "softening" the light that gets into the room, I'd say the ceiling slits do that very well, although they don't allow any variation of the ammount of light you let into the room.

Ok I love this project so Im going to ask sum iritating questions!!...the concrete-you say its white concrete?!But it looks very white-is it painted at all?(specifically the underside of the theatre seats?)...secondly the translucent wall on the inside of the courtyard-any idea what the structure of taht is?!more concrete/steel weavers?!Im confused as to how it all fits together!...and also extremely jealous that I can never specify doors like that!(climate!)Thanks! :D
Concrete is painted white. If I remember correctly you only have white concrete in the precast steps of the stair leading to the main entrance and on the floor slabs just outside the entrance.
About the structure holding the translucent pipes, you might get an idea of what it is if you look carefully at some of the pictures on posts 21 to 30. Through the glazing you can see thin rectangular steel columns painted white (the main structure) and a very thin trellis that holds a vertical profile to which the pipes are attached and creates a space between them and the glass. But perhaps this picture from Europaconcorsi (http://www.europaconcorsi.com/db/pub/images/13443/339980757.jpg) explains this better.

Thanks Void!

Thanks for sharing this one with us guys. I had not seen this project before, but I absolutely love it. The detailing reminds me of OMA/Rem Koolhaas, not fussy, but rather having a blunt honesty. Really nice photos as well, guys!:clap:

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING BUILDING. nuf' said

AWESOME THREAD!!!!!!!!!!.....

thanks guys.

And stunning building, it clearly shows good architecture at a low construction cost. I bet that same building done by anyother architect would skyrocketed the construction budget.

The only thing that "bothers" me is that stair right in the middle of the curved auditorium wall, it's like a wart on a pretty girl's face.

BTW, in this link from europaconcorsi you have the floorplans:

http://www.europaconcorsi.com/db/pub/architecture.php?id_scheda=13443&idimg=112036