High on a hill (Mount Gaìas) stands the building site of the Cidade da Cultura de Galicia (city of culture of Galicia). Concieved as a large scale cultural centre devoted to “knowledge and contemporary creativity”, it still has another 11 years before completion and several more huge buildings to be constructed.
To say it is controversial in the region would be an understatement. The regional paper La Voz de Galicia criticizes the folly of its cost and construction on an almost daily basis (Scottish parliament anyone?). This city of culture is the original brainchild of former head of the galician parliament, Manuel Fraga (who himself was once a minister in the Govt. of the former dictatorship under Franco…).
The vast spaces and sweeping curves bring to mind Niemeyer’s Brasilia…
The architect of all this:…American architect and purveyor of “modern deconstructivism” Peter Eiseman who stands elevated in a pristine room full of maquettes of the future complex and talks about the concept behind the construction, see below:
Hi there!
My name is Katerina Vaseva, I work as an editor at OpenBuildings.com, a young and enthusiastic website about architecture. Those days I’m working on an article on the City of Culture and as I was looking around for high-quality images, I found your wonderful blog.
The photos are great; I’d like to ask you, whether you’d mind us using them in our website. Of course, they will be referenced properly with your name and links to your blog. Please let me know as soon as you can.
I wish you a great sunny Wednesday!
Kate