Interventions in Monte do Gozo
Project: Interventions in Monte do Gozo
Architects: José Antonio Franco Taboada, Celestino García Braña, Alfonso Penela, Iago Seara Morales
Date: 1992-1993
Location: Outer Ring
Monxoi, or Monte Gaudii, or Monte do Gozo, is the anteroom to the city of Santiago for pilgrims. Its summit of 368 metres above sea level is the point on the French Way from where the Cathedral's towers can be spotted for the first time. In relation to the 1993 Holy Year, the Xunta de Galicia undertook a series of interventions in this area in order to create a complex of pilgrim facilities and services. The 600,000 square metres were divided into four constructed areas, joined by gardens and roads. The four areas consist of a campsite, entrusted to Celestino García; a residential area, designed by José Antonio Franco; an auditorium, by Alfonso Penela; and the Centro Europeo de Peregrinación y Pastoral Juvenil, by the architect Iago Seara.
All of the constructed pieces follow the terrain, trying to merge with it. Thus, the roofs of the numerous pavilions of the reception area, the campsite buildings and the volumes of the Pilgrimage Centre are made of copper, whose oxidised pale-green colour blends with the landscaped areas.
The auditorium is bordered by a series of small auxiliary constructions, made of rustic stone and oxidised steel, laid out in different positions and turned to avoid the impression of a continuous enclosure, which, due to its size, would not fit in with the project's open and light-handed nature. Some of the pieces should be highlighted because of their singularity, such as the Pilgrimage Centre chapel, intimate and poetical, or the three volumes of the campsite's toilets and laundries, with a presence that serves as an element of reference and order, with large irregular skylights crowning their blind concrete volume.
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Interventions in Monte do Gozo
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