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City of Culture of Galicia

Santiago De Compostela, Spain
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Centre for Creative Enterprising

The City of Culture of Galicia is a new cultural center for the Province of Galicia in northwestern Spain. Located on a small hill overlooking the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela. In March 2013, 14 years after the commencement of the project, work was stopped despite being unfinished due to budget overruns.

Twelve proposals were initially submitted to this competition for ideas by renowned national and international architects' studios, to end by being eleven, once Santiago Calatrava withdrew his project. The architects who brought forward their ideas to define the architectural complex and its uses were Ricardo Bofill, Peter Eisenman, Manuel Gallego Jorreto, Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer (Gigon / Guyer Architekten), Steven Holl, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault and Cesar Portela.

Out of these ideas, the final project selected for development was designed by Eisenman Architects. According to the Jury's decision it was, "unique both in concept and plasticity, and exceptionally in tune with the site's location".

Peter Eisenman proposed that two towers will be erected on the site of the City of Culture as a tribute to the architect John Hejduk, who had been a colleague of his in the group of Five Architects. The Hejduk Memorial Towers were designed by Hejduk in 1992 as botanical towers for the park of Belvis in Santiago de Compostela, though they were eventually not built.

The Towers shall be used to host the reception and information services for the City of Culture. They are built around a skeleton frame made of steel 25 metres high, with two different claddings: one in glass and the other in slabs of blue granite.

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archibald, August 23rd, 2013
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