Peter Eisenman designed this six-building complex Cidade da Cultura de Galicia for Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The six buildings are divided into three programs on the 173-acre site: the Museum of Galician History and the New Technologies center; the Music Theater and Central Services building; and the Galician Library and Periodicals Archive.
In this project he harps on his common theme of over-saturation from the media and information technology. To move beyong traditional sembiotic representation, Eisenan constructs a topography a Cartesian grid placed over a plan of the medieval city Santiago. The topography of the hillside augments this construct. This produces a figure-ground relationship that is often hazy. Compostela’s midieval history takes an active role in the organization of urban figures that isn’t explicitly tied to any one element or cultural meaning. As a site of religious pilgramage, it is appropriate that the building mingle with the landscape. The old truths are presented in new form.
Eisenman designed an urban fabric where the ground rises into and above buildings at times, reminiscent of Santiago’s seashell designs.
(OndasDeRuido– flickr/creative commons license)
(OndasDeRuido– flickr/creative commons license)
(Victoriano Rivero– flickr/creative commons license)
(Tapetum– flickr/creative commons license)
(IES-MGB– flickr/creative commons license)
(jl.cernadas– flickr/creative commons license)
(OndasDeRuido– flickr/creative commons license)
