Marine world: set within a Spanish national park, this natural history museum is a dramatic concrete grotto.Lying on the south-west Atlantic coast of Spain, the vast and richly diverse Donana National Park has been described as Europe's last wilderness. Spread over the delta of the river Guadalquivir, the area was originally set aside as a royal hunting ground in the thirteenth century and is now a World Heritage Site. Its disparate ecosystems encompass wetlands, lagoons, forest, scrubland and sand dunes. The central area of the park is strictly protected as a nature reserve but some limited development--mainly agriculture and tourism--is permitted in a buffer zone buffer zone n. A neutral area between hostile or belligerent forces that serves to prevent conflict. Noun 1. buffer zone around its edges. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Andalucia is a popular tourist destination A tourist destination is a city, town or other area the economy of which is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions or visitor attractions and possibly some "tourist traps". and the pressure to attract visitors to the region surrounding the Donana has often given rise to unsustainable projects, such as hotels and golf courses, which can deplete de·plete v. 1. To use up something, such as a nutrient. 2. To empty something out, as the body of electrolytes. precious reserves of ground water. Recently, however, the Seville-based partnership of Cruz and Ortiz was commissioned to design a different sort of visitor attraction, a building that explores the marine world in an attempt to foster a greater understanding of the planet's ecology. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The site lies on a network of rolling sand dunes, separated from a nearby beach by a 30m high plinth of sand. Low slung slung v. Past tense and past participle of sling1. slung Verb the past of sling1 slung sling and bunker-like, the new museum is an almost topographic presence in the dunes, merging and melding with the landscape. Yet the impassive, minimally articulated exterior of plain rendered walls and ribbed zinc roof conceals an intriguing and dramatic internal realm. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Organized around a linear spine, the interior resembles a murky, subterranean cavern, with walls of rough, board-marked concrete and paved floors. The spine is a long double-height hall, its tall volume animated by full-scale models and skeletons of marine life suspended from the ceiling. For visitors walking below them, the effect is rather like being on the ocean floor, the drama heightened by the sparse, raw textures of the materials and carefully choreographed artificial lighting which casts eerie shadows of the creatures on the concrete walls. A shaft of light also seeps into the hall from a horizontal slot cut into the external wall at floor level, its effect magnified by a reflecting pool
A reflecting pool is a structure often used in memorials. It generally consists of a shallow pool of water, usually quite calm. set in a long enclosed courtyard that runs parallel with the south edge of the building. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On the north side, the gently sloping roof of the main hall cascades down to embrace and enclose a series of smaller secondary exhibition spaces, each different, each trapezoidal in plan, strung along the spine like chunky beads or stumpy fingers reaching out into the dune dune, mound or ridge of wind-blown sand formed in arid regions and along coasts. Dunes are common in most of the great deserts of the world. Often a dune begins to form because material is deposited by the wind as it encounters a bush, a rock, or other obstacle to landscape. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ancillary spaces are contained in irregularly-shaped gaps between the fingers. At key points, such as the entrance hall, the interior's beton brut Brut, Brute (both: br  t), or Brutus (br severity is softened and warmed by planes of iroko Iroko can refer to:
Respectful of its fragile setting, yet imbued with a strong sense of drama that manages to avoid the cheesy cheesy (che´ze) caseous. theatricality of many modern natural history museums, Cruz and Ortiz's building thoughtfully connects with the natural world on both a rational and romantic level. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Architect Cruz and Ortiz Project team Antonio Cruz Antonio ("Tony") Cruz (born October 31, 1971 in Long Beach, California) is a professional road bicycle racer from the United States, who rides for Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. In 1999 Cruz was the USPRO National Criterium Champion, and became professional. , Antonio Ortiz, Belen Rivera Romero, Maria Arboledas Cique Cost consultant Manuel Delgado Martin Structural engineer TEDECO Photographs Duccio Malagamba SEA LIFE CENTRE, HUELVA, SPAIN ARCHITECT CRUZ AND ORTIZ |
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