Monastery of San Juan

The proposal for the Monastery of San Juan and its extension, that provides it with some renewed uses as Marceliano Santa María Museum and other activities, proposes to point out the value of its architectural characteristics, returning it to a consolidated and unit material state to the exterior and the interior, as well as clarifying its circulations and accesses. After that, the uses will be restored, trying not to distort its original essence but, on the contrary, fostering its atmosphere and getting an exhibiting space with the contemporary performance that it deserves.

The project values the original footprints that allow to establish alliances with the past and the site, but also with the time, both the present and the future. It tries to integrate in a sober way, without distortions, avoiding disproportionate or striking gestures. On the contrary, it seeks to adjust to the site. We have looked for a clear and calm dialogue with the context and, at the same time, to provide strength and force. The proposal -with few decisions that are based on subtle allusions to the existing- can belong to the context in a natural and homogeneous way, without giving up to a contemporary and elegant urban presence.

We propose an architecture that can understand clearly the identity of the whole place in a subtle, allusive and non-strident way. The new volume is neutral to the exterior, it is a piece that preserves line-ups and orders, gives back the façade’s plane, proposes strategic openings, solves the circulations and evacuations by means of a space with a representative character, and dialogues in a respectful way with the architectural rhythms from the context. Therefore, the project sets out a highest respect to the context in which it is placed, as well as to its history. And this is done by means of a simple architecture, with expressive containment and subtle allusions. In conclusion, a lyric architecture, without disproportionate resources, sustainable and sensible by definition, but ambitious in its goals.