In its final conception, Calatrava's "arms" will offer their true meaning of welcome , of meeting and union with the citizens around an imposing Palace for the new times.
The Valencian architect, who received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1999, believes that his new work will update the beautiful Asturian city "echoing an era and a beginning of the century."
Oviedo finds a new landmark in this space . A graceful structure despite the thousands of tons of material used, which exudes atmospheric lightness and infinite perspectives and symmetries when observed closely and walked around its perimeter.
Inside, the visual translations are similar, abundant in views and contraviews, loaded with profiles and with an unusual softness between the great blocks of the immense layman. The Palace allows different panoramic views of the interior thanks to the stepped heights.
From the outside, it's a gigantic viewpoint overlooking the city , offering innovative balconies to the Oviedo skyline. In every respect, it conveys the feeling of being a great work of engineering, a structure pushed to its technical limits, allowing for the self-modification of its forms, like a living organism seeking vital adaptation to external conditions.
What is in the Congress Palace of Oviedo?
A new benchmark, we said; new because it's modern, but also because it's unprecedented in the Asturian capital. Oviedo enters the vanguard of urban architecture with this space designed to house three different uses in a single complex:
1/ The Princess Letizia Congress Hall is part of the main building and is distributed over two floors, housing a smaller hall, conference and multipurpose rooms, and a larger hall of 4.510 square meters with a capacity for 2.500 people. This ovoid-shaped structure sits atop a semi-enclosed plaza. As conceived by Santiago Calatrava, it gives the impression of "floating on water." This central part of the building features a retractable roof, a giant visor composed of dozens of large elements, "ribs" or "ribs" of white steel (the Valencian architect's signature color), some fixed and others movable, which can be tilted by a hydraulic system, allowing more light to enter and altering the Palace's exterior appearance.
2/ A five-star hotel , of 15.800 square meters, located in the southern part of the site and consisting of three floors and 150 rooms.
3/ An administrative services area of the Principality , which houses the headquarters of the Ministries in its east and west wings and occupies an area of 11.000 square meters
The magnitude of the construction also provides space for an underground parking area with 2.100 spaces and a lobby that exceeds 2500 square meters. The U-shaped building that crowns the structure and surrounds the Palace is raised about 30 meters from the ground by a complex of steel frames.
Text: © Ramón Molleda for asturias.com
