Library of the Institute of Hispanic Culture

Involved architects (2)
Involved architects
Antonio Fernández Alba
José Luis Fernández del Amo Moreno

"To the original building on the edge of the Complutense University campus, buildings have been added later to solve space problems, as the Institute's tasks grow as time goes by and cooperation with Ibero-America is consolidated in an upward line. In this sense, the installation and start-up of the main institution that has remained from all that intense cultural exchange, the Hispanic Library, led to the construction of another building annexed to it.

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The architects José Luis Fernández del Amo Moreno and Antonio Fernández Alba were in charge of the project. The project took a year to complete and the result is a unique building in which the three basic functions of a library are ingeniously combined: a book depository with a large storage capacity, reading rooms with extraordinary natural light and administrative and cultural facilities, whose forms can be glimpsed through the exterior volumes.

Library of the Institute of Hispanic Culture - Fernández del Amo Arquitectos
Library of the Institute of Hispanic Culture - Fernández-Alba, Antonio (2003). Premio Nacional de Arquitectura 2003. MITMA.

The building is arranged around the central courtyard, following the complicated topography of the terrain and proclaiming its expressionist forms.

Library of the Institute of Hispanic Culture - Fernández-Alba, Antonio (2003). Premio Nacional de Arquitectura 2003. MITMA.

According to the ideological currents of the time, with organicism as a conception of space, a sphere is established that intertwines humanism and nature. All this marks the triangular shape of the superb tower housing the tanks, with its curved volumes whose sensuality can be seen in the treatment of the horizontal surfaces with the superimposition of their sinuously overhanging bodies. It combines early Spanish rationalism with the monumental eclecticism of the 1940s, visible in the immediate nostalgic presence of the Institute to which it complemented and the equally nearby Museum of America.''

Library of the Institute of Hispanic Culture - Fernández-Alba, Antonio (2003). Premio Nacional de Arquitectura 2003. MITMA.

General information

Library of the Institute of Hispanic Culture

YEAR

1964

Status

Built

Option to visit

Free visit

Address

Ave. Reyes Católicos, 2

28040 Madrid - Madrid

Latitude: 40.438586447

Longitude: -3.72086443

Classification

Building materials

Brick

Built area

501 - 5000 m²

Involved architects

Antonio Fernández Alba

José Luis Fernández del Amo Moreno

Information provided by

Estudio de Arquitectura Antonio Fernández Alba

Historical Service of the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM)

Fernández del Amo Arquitectos

MITMA

Website links

Fernández del Amo Arquitectos

Fernández-Alba, Antonio (2003). Premio Nacional de Arquitectura 2003. MITMA.

Historical Service of the Official Association of Architects of Madrid (COAM)

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Location

40.438586447 -3.72086443 2503ce48-ebe3-49c0-88a2-9d8c58256526 Built
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