Archinect
Santiago Gonzales

Santiago Gonzales

Albuquerque, NM, US

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Robert Graves Library - Deia - Majorca - Spain

The programmatic scheme asked for a multipurpose exhibition hall with a curator and storage area, a library and archive, a reading area, tapas bar and auditorium. The proposed program was fragmented like the breaking of stone in Masonic practice. These elements were then rearranged about the site according to contextual and programmatic adjacency. This breaking allows for engagement with the site and encourages movement throughout its stone and concrete valleys which are a reminiscent of the geographical context of not only Deia but also the Island of Majorca. 


Justification of the proposed solution
Majorca is geographically mountainous. More than buildings,  the complex proposes the construction of a geography that belongs to the island and is used as a device for organization of the program. Buildings volumes are broken like stone in the masonic process to delineate form and space. This place is made by small stone houses and villas, olive trees and masonry with terraced hillsides which are abundant with vegetation. This organization produces a non-uniform texture of the village like an escarpment of rock which has been unearthed to show the richness of color and textures that were once kept hidden with-in. The village has organized and responded to the geography of the place creating a fragmented inhabitable space where buildings cling like Billy goats to the hillsides like man-made boulders. Geography has become the driving force behind this village's history and existence and is now realized again in the built form of this project.
 
 

 
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Status: School Project
Location: Deia, Majorca, Spain
My Role: Designer