Flamenco flair: Herzog de Meuron reinterpret the southern Spanish tradition of flamenco in a new contribution to Jerez.Flamenco occupies a cherished place in Andalucian culture, and the city of Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera (hārāth dā lä frōntā`rä), city (1990 pop. 186,812), Cádiz prov., SW Spain, in Andalusia. Jerez is an important commercial center noted for its sherry and brandy. is widely regarded as its birthplace and spiritual home. The city produced numerous famous performers, creators and interpreters, and the local style displays the exuberant influence of gypsy communities who historically have always been integrated into Jerez. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As part of a wider plan to redevelop the city's decaying and depopulated de·pop·u·late tr.v. de·pop·u·lat·ed, de·pop·u·lat·ing, de·pop·u·lates To reduce sharply the population of, as by disease, war, or forcible relocation. historic core, the municipality launched an invited competition for a City of Flamenco, a cultural complex that would act as a performance venue and reference centre for the network of folk clubs Folk clubs (as distinct from American folk-music nightclubs) were primarily an urban phenomenon of 1960s and 1970s Britain. Ewan MacColl was a founder of the "Ballad and Blues Club" in a pub in Soho. After a few weeks they moved to "The Princess Louise" at Holborn in 1961. A.L. and activities associated with this unique art form. The programme included an auditorium, museum, school and documentation centre and the shortlist short·list also short-list n. A list of preferable items or candidates that have been selected for final consideration, as in making an award or filling a position. Noun 1. of firms included four Iberian practices (Cruz & Ortiz, Juan Navarro Baldeweg, and Guillermo Vazquez Consuegra from Spain, and Alvaro Siza and Juan Miguel Hernandez from Portugal); one Japanese (Sejima & Nishizawa); and one from Switzerland, Herzog de Meuron, who were eventually awarded the commission. Located in the centre of Jerez's old town in an area bounded by the old Almohad rampart and two quarters, San Miguel San Miguel (sän mēgĕl`), city (1993 pop. 118,214), E El Salvador, at the foot of San Miguel volcano (6,996 ft/2,132 m). It has textile, rope, and dairy-products industries. The region produces cotton, henequen, and vegetable oil. and Santiago (both historic crucibles of flamenco art), the site and programme presented two main challenges: to insert a large new volume into a dense urban matrix of modestly scaled buildings and labyrinthine lab·y·rin·thine adj. Of, relating to, resembling, or constituting a labyrinth. labyrinthine pertaining to or emanating from a labyrinth. streets, and to interpret in the folkloric traditions of flamenco in a cultivated, contemporary way. Herzog de Meuron's winning design is a modern version of Jerez's famous Alcazar alcazar Spanish alcázar Form of military architecture of medieval Spain, generally rectangular with defensible walls and massive corner towers. Inside was an open space (patio) surrounded by chapels, salons, hospitals, and sometimes gardens. , arranged around a garden of reflecting pools and orange trees concealed behind a walled perimeter. Within it are staircases and skylights that connect the main auditorium with underground classrooms, and a lookout tower which houses the museum. Both fortress and paradise (in its Islamic interpretation of the classical hortus conclusus Hortus Conclusus is a Latin term, meaning literally "enclosed garden", and is an attribute of the Virgin Mary in Medieval and Renaissance art. Christian tradition states that Jesus Christ was conceived to Mary supernaturally and without disrupting her virginity by ), the Swiss proposal provides public open space in the dense hub of the historic city, wrapped in eroded walls of lattice-like tracery tracery, bands or bars of stone, wood, or other material, either subdividing an opening or standing in relief against a wall and forming an ornamental pattern of solid members and open spaces. (made from specially cast concrete blocks) that recalls the historic legacies of Arabic geometry and Andalucian ornament, as well as more modern sources--urban graffiti, the tactile patterns of tattoos and the rhythmic roughness and sensuality of flamenco itself. The perforated wall, and the secret garden, shape and structure a new urban topography out of various extruded, sunken and projecting volumes. Trees and water provide shade and cooling in the intense Andulacian climate and orchestrate a rich interplay between inside and outside. Herzog de Meuron see the project as a city within a city--their initial complex forms a nucleus which can evolve and be added to over time. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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