Mérida Conference Centre

The new Mérida Conference Centre must not only resolve a complex brief that makes the music, theatre and opera uses of the auditorium compatible with the exhibition pavilion. It is also a building with a powerful symbolic presence which, due to its contents and location, will add to the notable list of modern architecture in Mérida. Set on the west bank of the Guadiana River between the bridge by Santiago Calatrava and the railway bridge, it overlooks the river and the city at the same time. Like a tapestry formed by alternating garden and paved belts, a new square will accompany the visitor's approach to the building at the northern edge of the site. The Conference Centre is conceived as a unitary piece, emptied to shape a new public space: a large raised terrace overlooking the city which articulates the basic features of the brief. This platform is a nexus between the two auditoriums, the most characteristic features of the building.