Palacio de Congresos Princesa Letizia, Oviedo Spain

Santiago Calatrava designed the The Exhibition and Congress Center City of Oviedo. The soaring white shapes and repetitive organic structure is characteristic of Calatrava, a structural engineer with an emphasis on aesthetic creation. A perimeter low-rise building rises above the pedestrian level to frame a courtyard space, with the north end completely open to a front plaza. Each end of the frame juts as a wedge into the street in a truly magnificent front view. The central 2,300 m2 exhibition hall rises in a contrasting angle to catch the southern sun.

The white dome for this vast space rises 45m and accesses 12 meeting rooms. An additional meeting hall can seat 217. A multipurpose room has 410m2 of space. The raised frame building houses administration and governmental offices. A hotel provides convenient space for visiting users of the Palacio.

Economic struggles pushed back construction on this project in 2010, and a collapse in 2006 injured construction workers. Faults in arc welding designs led to Calatrava having to pay out 3.5 million for the event. As far as I could tell it is still unfinished.

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(Guzmán Lozano– flickr/creative commons license)

(jorge.cancela– flickr/creative commons license)

(amaianos– flickr/creative commons license)

(Mikelo– flickr/creative commons license)
 

(Mikelo– flickr/creative commons license)	(jorge.cancela– flickr/creative commons license)
(Mikelo– flickr/creative commons license)	(Mikelo– flickr/creative commons license)