Auditorium of Soria and New Urban Planning

Soria. Spain | 2006

Soria City Council

Louis I. Kahn defined the city as an assembly of institutions. The North American architect believed that the different human establishments were implicit in its nature. And whether private or public, the dialogue between the architecture which houses them results in public spaces, those places where humans meet. Inspired by Kahn, the project for the revitalization of this part of the city is considered from the necessary reinterpretation of its urban surroundings. We begin with the understanding that the implementation of a complex with such ample and heterogeneous activities as proposed should influence in all possible ways the city which awaits it. Consequently –recovering the essence of the radical lines of Castilian squares– the Auditorium and New Square are placed around a pure geometric public space. The result is a new meeting place within the historic district of Soria, a space that completes the system of squares including San Clemente, San Esteban, San Blas and Plaza Mayor, among others. The plaza accommodates urban encounter and serves as a public entrance lobby to the surrounding buildings: the auditorium, the extension of the Cultural Center, a hotel, a building for the Castilla and Leon Government and local businesses.

The project intends to topographically arrange the unstructured surrounding area by building one of the borders of the historic city, and connecting it with the aspiration for its physical and tactile regularization. Architecture makes the city, because urban space has the high potential to be transformed into new centers of activity, in an effort to rebuild it both functionally and formally. The public stage represents, after all, the social uses that give it meaning.

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Awards

1st Prize | Auditorium of Soria and New Urban Planning. Spain | 2006

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Publications

AV Proyectos n. 19 | 2007