Architects: Andrés Perea
Date: 1998-2000
Location: Outer Ring
In the San Lázaro area, opposite the Palacio de Congresos e Exposicións de Galicia building, Andrés Perea designed an expressive complex of administrative services buildings. Characterised by curved shapes, they are linked together by landscaped grounds featuring ponds, lawns and triangular-shaped roads.
The smallest buildings house the Instituto Galego de Promoción Económica (Galician Economic Promotion Institute or IGAPE) and the Instituto Galego de Estatística (IGAES). The Servicio Galego de Sáude (Galician Health Service or SERGAS) occupies a large longitudinal building, with an expressively arched ground plan, which dominates the entire complex.
All of the buildings are identified as part of a complex by a series of common features, such as the shape of their openings -all horizontal- the white concrete of their façades or the curved shapes of their volumes. However, each building has different features that set them apart, introducing elements of orientation and meaning into the complex.
Especially interesting is the contact between the buildings and the ground, as well as the treatment of the latter. Triangular sheets of water reflect the buildings' strong images, thereby multiplying their presence. The small cylindrical buildings feature a narrow, artificially illuminated line at the point where they meet the ground, which produces the effect of magical levitation at night.