Spanish architecture studio Cor & Partners has designed ‘MUCA’, a music and cultural centre in Algueña. The program brings together all the activities related to music and culture that take place in the village while promoting its cultural future. The project’s very tight budget of 562,000 € lead the architects to rehabilitate an abandoned 1960’s building, the old Guardia Civil quarter of 670 m2 and to construct new 350 m2 Auditorium. The existing building was dealt with the minimum of interventions showing respect to the public’s memory. Its central courtyard is designed to house open-air rehearsals of music bands or other functions without any fixed elements. The back courtyard will at a later stage accommodate an open-air hall and a jacaranda garden separating the two buildings.
The new construction was connected to the old with a stairwell enclosed in a glass box. The highlight of this project is the new auditorium which accommodates 230 foldaway seats and a warehouse, adapting to a variety of events. As the concept was based on a low cost landmark, its qualities were explored. It had to be recognisable, contemporary, vibrant, bright and mnemonic. The architects designed a blind box clad covered top to bottom in pearly-iridescent ceramic tiles. The unexpected effect of these seemingly simple tiles is seductive. They unpredictably bounce off light, reflecting the ever changing sky from light blue to dark grey depending on the weather; in this manner the auditorium has up its sleeve countless facades. This technique is based on a porcelain base material that resists frost and is guaranteed for exterior use. Each of these plates is pressed in dry and is fired 3 times generating a vibrant volume in constant change.

ARCHITECT: Cor & Partners, Alicante, Spain. CLIENT: Town Council of Algueña. LOCATION: Algueña, Alicante, Spain. DESCRIPTION: Cultural. STATUS: completed. AREA: 715 sqm. DATE: 2011. No part of this web site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Morfae and the copyright owner.