Construction completed on Jaén’s Museo Íbero, a singular 11,000-square-metre building by EDDEA

Construction of the Museo Íbero (Iberian Museum) in Jaén, designed by EDDEA’s architecture team, is now complete. The building is a new cultural facility, the most important built in Andalusia in recent years: a modern structure of more than 11,000 square metres raised on the remains of the former provincial prison.

Alongside its generous exhibition spaces and other facilities, the museum has a 148-seat auditorium with audiovisual equipment for the museum’s own activities and for external use, as well as a conservation laboratory, a shop and a café.

For the project, EDDEA proposed a reappraisal of the original layout of the prison’s spaces through a new building concept. “The design of this large-volume cultural venue is defined and its façade rises in blocks, catching the visitor’s eye with its texture, made of lightweight glass-fibre-reinforced concrete that stands out when the light reflects off it,” the team explains.

This new facility, which represents an investment of more than 26 million euros, is promoted by the central Government, the Andalusian Government (Junta de Andalucía), the Provincial Council and Jaén City Council.

A centre of attraction

The international architecture and urban planning firm’s project set out to revitalise the area through a building that helps to create a more welcoming environment, while seeking to turn the space into a cultural and leisure magnet for the city.

The museum’s location, in one of the provincial capital’s liveliest commercial districts and at the meeting point of two of its main thoroughfares, Paseo de la Estación and Avenida de Muñoz Grande, is strategic, as there is a constant flow of potential visitors past the site.

The opening of this new cultural space is planned over the course of next year with a temporary exhibition, so it will open partially; alongside the exhibition, visitors will be able to enjoy other spaces such as the assembly hall, the café and the shop. To this end, an investment of 1.2 million euros is planned for the museography, staff and interior fit-out.