Xavier Vancells Arquitectura XVA

We understood the new Art Centre in Huarte as a hub for social activities and exhibitions that can be enlarged, modified or permanently restructured. Accordingly, the project opted for an architectural strategy that generates exhibition spaces and activity around the container, on the understanding that the museum’s most important feature is its activity and NOT the container itself.

The container is defined not only by the contents on show within it but also by the changing activity undertaken around it: open-air projections, temporary outdoor exhibitions, musical performances, public celebrations and events that succeed each other to create an active interaction between the museum, city and natural surroundings.

A series of spaces was established on this basis:

1. The lower space. The container is suspended above a new depression in the terrain which creates a parking space capable of putting on various activities, according to the season and the time of the day.

2. The surrounding space. The container is surrounded by a facetted geometry comprising a taut metal net that creates a series of green spaces equipped to put on temporary outdoor exhibitions, as well as a range of social events

3. The platform space. The ground floor of the complex was conceived as a highly permeable, transparent public level that regulates the various entrances to the building and grants autonomy of use to the spaces at various times of day.

4. The exhibition space. Empty, neutral spaces with installations and infrastructures that can be transformed for every exhibition and performance, like an enormous theatre.

Regardless of the way its interior is used for exhibitions, the Art Centre was conceived and resolved as a focus for activities that encourage participation in Huarte’s public life.