SGAE Headquarters
Architects: Antón García Abril
Date: 2005-2007
Location: Historical City
After the opening of the Escuela de Altos Estudios Musicales (music school) on the Finca Simeón estate, Antón García Abril and the Ensamble Estudio were commissioned to design and build, on the same estate, the new Galician headquarters of Sociedad General de Autores de España. The proposed building, whose construction began in February 2006, is a spectacular longitudinal piece, resting on one of the estate's limits, which has a double face towards the interior and exterior of the walled enclosure: towards the street, the building reveals a long convex façade of printed glass, resting on the estate's wall; while towards the interior of the Simeón estate the building presents a spectacular slightly concave surface of gigantic pieces of granite, set in a generously fretted metallic structure. The granite blocks' great size, irregular shapes and unstable position evoke the beauty and poetics of megalithic constructions.
The new SGAE headquarters is based on a complex spatial system, defined by two curved planes arranged in parallel, the one of printed glass and the other of stone blocks, between which there is a fine, perfectly tense membrane. Between this interior plane and the glass skin is a complete minor programme of offices and administrative areas. Between the same plane and the façade of large blocks, a large entrance corridor-lobby opens up along the entire height and length of the building. The auditorium, training areas and laboratories are arranged in the lower volume at ground level, facing Rúa das Salvadas.
SGAE's Compostela headquarters is a high-risk architectural project, whose constructed result highlights the significant and sensorial possibilities of contemporary architecture.
The venue of the SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores) designed by the architect Antón García-Abril. It contributes to the city's cultural and artistic life with a programme that pays special attention to the field of music and children's entertainment, with jazz, pop, metal, hip-hop and traditional Galician music concerts, as well as its consolidated "Escena en familia" series, which introduces young ones every Sunday to the world of theatre thanks to Spain's most outstanding puppet companies.
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SGAE Headquarters
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