Pilgrimage Museum and City Museum

Located in the centre of the historic and monumental city of Santiago de Compostela, at the foot of the Clock Tower of the cathedral, the historicist building of the "Banco de España" was built during the Spanish Civil War and completed in 1948. A public tender proposed its regeneration to become an extension of the existing Pilgrims' Museum exhibition space. It was an express requirement to preserve the existing building. Given the insufficient surface area to accommodate the entire programme, it was planned as an exhibition space with minimal support spaces (cafeteria, workshop area and a conference room) functioning as an extension of the current museum. Regardless of its architectural quality, the original building is respected for its urban integration in the fundamental part of the Historic-Artistic Ensemble that is the city of Santiago.

A detailed study of its constructional and structural conditions shows that the structure did not support the minimum loads required by law. In addition, the concrete was in poor condition, forcing the demolition of pillars and floors. During construction, important archaeological remains were discovered in the basement (the first defensive walls of the city), which had to be coordinated and coordinated with the construction process and solved with a complex system of micro-piling. The appearance of a major watercourse encroaching on the moat of the old wall made this problem more complex. It was resolved by assessing the pre-existing systems at all times.

In addition, the need to minimise vehicle traffic through the historic site meant that the use of concrete had to be reduced to a minimum, and instead rolled steel was used to build a structure made up of large parts produced in a workshop and assembled on site. The strategy of the new building proposes, in a way, the continuation of the Camino de Santiago, culminating in a viewpoint from which the Clock Tower of the cathedral can be seen from the first floor. The construction system and the subsequent protection were very important in achieving the final aesthetic expression.

The construction is arranged by means of two large metal trusses that make it possible to avoid pillars and open a central skylight that organises the construction, the space and the light, so that we can dispense with the existing windows. In addition, through the skylight, the machine room and the kitchen of the cafeteria on the upper floor are ventilated. For the air-conditioning project we took into account the limited space available, its insulation and the heat dissipated by itself, basically focusing on a ventilation system that reuses the returns whenever possible to avoid condensation. The building is easy to maintain due to its "open" accessibility. The glass façade is composed of layers with a lower emissivity factor and easily operable through which the return air flows.

However, the complexity of this building, its complicated adaptation to the new use and the experience of its architecture lead us to reflect on the importance of the intensity of creative work as an important quality in architecture.