147

murcia old prison

The proposal intends to invert the spaces of Murcia’s old Prison, among with its architecture and memory. Shifting not only the material aspects but also the immaterial ones, transforming a prison into a public garden. Shifting: imprisonment for connection, walls for openings, darkness for light, interior for exterior, solidness for void, heaviness for lightness, etc.

Intertwined spaces: The heart of the old building is emptied to build only the precise and necessary, and provide flexibility to the whole.
Re-use and modification: The existing structure that is dismantled in the central nave is reused to open a public space, “The Garden”, the heart of the new cultural centre, which contains a specific landscape through plantings and the introduction of light and ventilation.
Distribution and decompression: The program is located in the perimeter of “The Garden” and is articulated around it among four pavilions, decompressing the core of the whole complex.
Lightness and atmosphere: The interior is opened to the light, to the vegetation and to a clear and easy circulation.