EDDEA’s building for the Museo Íbero in Jaén nominated for ArchDaily’s ‘Building of the Year 2021’ awards
The building designed by EDDEA’s architecture team for the Museo Íbero in Jaén has been nominated for the ‘Building of the Year 2021’ awards of ArchDaily (www.archdaily.com), the world’s largest digital architecture platform, which draw entries from more than a hundred countries.
Now in their 12th edition in 2021, the awards recognise each year the building most highly rated by ArchDaily’s readers in a range of categories. The Museo Íbero is competing in the Cultural Architecture category.
Opened at the end of 2017, the new museum is the most important cultural facility built in Andalusia in recent years. With an investment of more than 26 million euros, it was promoted by the Spanish government, the Junta de Andalucía, the Provincial Council and Jaén City Council.
It is a contemporary building of more than 11,000 square metres, raised on the remains of the former provincial prison. Alongside its generous exhibition spaces, among 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 reassessment of the original layout of the prison spaces through a new building concept. “We defined the design of this large-volume cultural building and raised its façade in blocks; its texture, in lightweight glass-fibre reinforced concrete, catches the visitor’s eye and comes alive when light is reflected on it”, the team explains.
The museum enjoys a strategic location in one of the most vibrant commercial districts of the provincial capital, where two of its main arteries meet: the Paseo de la Estación and the Avenida de Muñoz Grande.
The project by the Seville-based international architecture and urban planning firm set out to revitalise the area through a building that would foster a more pleasant setting and, at the same time, become a cultural and leisure magnet for the city.
