The Palace of Santa Cruz was built and designed by Juan Nates between 1486 and 1491. Once the works have begun, it is considered that the façade and the courtyard must be Renaissance. In the eighteenth century, the architect Ventura Rodríguez replaced the Gothic openings with neoclassical ones.
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PABELLÓN ROJO PALACIO DE SANTA CRUZ
Temporary Structure (Built)
Firm
EDUARDO MIGUEL GONZÁLEZ FRAILE
Architect/Designer
EDUARDO MIGUEL GONZÁLEZ FRAILE
Design Team
EDUARDO MIGUEL GONZÁLEZ FRAILE, TRYCSA
Location
VALLADOLID
Country
SPAIN
Photographer/Copyright
©EDUARDO MIGUEL GONZÁLEZ FRAILE
Social Media Handles:
Website
N/A
Conditioning factors.- The restoration and cleaning work of the Palace of Santa Cruz (originally a school for poor students) made it necessary to design an access pavilion, whose roof had security to protect from falling objects. It had to be attractive, capable of reading the entrance, built with current materials and had a decidedly contemporary formal imprint. It should be minimalist and essentialist, without disturbing the view of the existing cover. It should also be flexible and easily transformed so that the roof does not get in the way when restoring the lower area of the cover.
Panel 1: The place and scale of the enclosure: trees and furniture.
The delimitation of the garden in the square has alignments of plane trees on the two main sides and a vibrant alignment of privet-sweetgum, of smaller size, in the Colegio de las Carmelitas.
The square has two areas separated by axis C, the main access to the building. On the right side, a neo-Renaissance garden with a D-axis, with symmetrical elements (widening, ellipse, trees). On the left side, the composition negates the previous system with convex curves (in red) instead of concave. The right side corresponds to the Chapel, with an open-plan itinerary and the left to the Aula Triste, with an X-shaped route, unknowns and debate. The metaphor is served. The garden on the left side, like the one on the right side, shows the program of the first bay of the building. The tradition of Serlio that culminates Palladio.
The axes are specialized. The central one, C, values the processional section, clean and silent. El Cristo de la Luz (Christ of Light) is an immanent symbol of the University of Valladolid
The intelligence of the garden routes perfectly captures the continuity of the D axis (residential and diverse) towards the right side façade of the building.
The heterodox arrangement of the unique trees marks milestones that allow the dimension of the pavilion and the views from it.
The benches follow alignments or mark the singular traces that, for that very reason, are cryptic to see.
Panel 2: RED PAVILION OF PROTECTION AND ACCESS. Environment and trompe l’oeil
The environment illustrates the different points A, B, C, which have been calculated when designing the façade, where the view of the building as a whole or of complete parts of the façade can be appreciated, as we approach. A trompe l’oeil covers the scaffolding, but illustrates the operations and analyses carried out on this main elevation.
Panel 3: Temporary protective structure. Red Pavilion design
Here the conceptual correspondence between the façade and the protection pavilion is verified. The most important thing is the red color anticipating the vision in the hallway of the Cristo de la Luz, (1630) an extraordinary sculpture by Gregorio Fernández. The correspondences in the number of modules, pylons and pilasters, reflections and textures express everything conceptual about the façade distilled in the minimal, but very rich, formal world of the pavilion.
Panel 4: Analogies, metaphors and contrasts. Continuation of the Pavilion design
Through any of the figures of architectural language, pavilion and façade express their intimate belonging. The pavilion is something living that breathes and is freed from the roof in order to restore the lower part of the façade. Pavilion and trompe l’oeil show off their splendour in all their glory.
Panel 5: Landscape Visualization
The pavilion is also an architecture designed to enhance the landscape and the external environment. It thus becomes more than just a place of passage; It is a real space to stop and appreciate the surroundings.
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