Congress Center and Hotel in Palma by Francisco Mangado

The Congress Center and Hotel in Palma, honorable mention in American Architecture Prize 2017, is the work of Spanish architect Francisco Mangado, was presented in 2006-2007 and built in 2017. The project opens as a "curtain" to the sea through a elongated volume plus one of shorter length that distributes a third of its surface for luxury hotel use, and the remaining two thirds for the palace of congresses and parking.

Palace of Congresses and Hotel. Palma de Mallorca. Authors: Francisco Mangado - Mangado y Asociados. Presented by the Official School of Architects Vasco Navarro. Photography by Juan Rodríguez. Image courtesy of CSCAE.

Located in an elongated plot of difficult geometry and dimension, with a front of almost 350 meters, the project develops a new urban "layout" looking at the sea, which is achieved with its large glass screen facades. A bridge footbridge unifies the elongated volume of the congress palace with the volume of the hotel. The wavy forms in plan try an extension of the sea.

Description of project by Francisco Mangado

The project rests on the idea that to work on a lot that is rich and suggestive in its being difficult, such as the one we have here, is to draw up a new urban ‘outline’ for the city. The irregular geometry of the narrow and elongated lot, forming a seafront of nearly 350 meters, refers more to the idea of an urban boundary f huge dimensions that must accommodate a major project with a complex and diverse program.

The building looks toward the sea, and this seaward looking is summed up in a thick facade—five meters wide and erected with techniques of naval engineering—that besides keeping out direct sunlight contains the stairs and other elements connecting the different spaces and programs. As you go up the stairs, you see the sea through huge glass panes. This facade is like a town wall with a path, dense but also open, and in its thickness, through ambiguous spaces that cannot definitively be considered interior or exterior, it is confused with the promenade itself.

The ‘alter ego’ is the north facade, whose thickness is formed by the building’s more ‘server’ spaces. The result is a comb-shaped double scheme: in functional terms, public to the south and private to the north. Inside, different congress and exhibition halls follow one another. These are large but volumetrically expressive spaces, with voids around them that have hanging platforms and catwalks for looking out to the exterior. On the raised floor, connected to the hotel by a footbridge that serves to unify the complex, are the more everyday uses, the smaller convention rooms, and restaurants, along with a large terrace that, viewed in perspective, can be taken to be a prolongation of the sea.

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Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado. Photograph by Juan Rodríguez.

Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado. Photograph by Roland Halbe. Image courtesy of EU Mies Award

Axonometric view. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Site plan. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Basement 1 Floor level. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Grounf floor level. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

First floor level. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Second floor level. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Third floor level. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Roof floor level. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Cross section terrace and stage. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Cross section foyer space. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Cross section. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Cross section exhibition space and conference rooms. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Cross section terrace and scene conference rooms. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Longitudinal section auditorum. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

North elevation. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

South elevation. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

Constructive section. Congress Center and Hotel by Francisco Mangado.

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More information

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Architects

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Francisco Mangado.

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Design Team

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Idoia Alonso Barberena, Antonio Aller, Maria João Costa, Almudena Fiestas, Ana Muñiz, João Gois, Sergio Rio Tinto, Edurne Pradera, Isabel Oyaga, Sofia Cacchione, Itziar Etayo, Aintzane Gazteiu-Iturri, Andreas Bovin, Richard Královic, Maria Manero, Wojciech Sumlet, Cesar Martín. arqs.

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Collaborators

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NB 35 S.L., ing (structural engineering). Francisco Mangado (installations engineering). Higini Arau, ing (acoustic engineering). Quantity surveyor.- Pedro Legarreta.

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Client

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Palau de Congressos de Palma de Mallorca.

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Contractor

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Acciona Construcción S.A.

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Subcontracts

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Blasco Construcciones en Madera, S.L. (Wood carpentry). Callfer, S.A. (Metallic structure). Composites Gurea, S.A. (Parklex). Elaborados Ferricos, S.A (Metallic structure). Gruas Pol, S.A. (Rent of Cranes). Hilti Española, S.A. (Fixings). Humiclima Est, S.A. (Air conditioning). Industrias Laguna Belvis, S.L. (Curtain walls). Mairata, S.L. (Aluminum carpentry). Mavida Elements, S.L. (Swimming pools and SPA). Naumetal Estructuras Metalicas, S.L. (Metallic structure). Nechi Ingenieria, S.L. (Engineering). Puertas Paver, S.L. (Metal doors). Sika, S.A. (Chemical Additives). Sucomaga, S.L (Facade / Stone Cover). Trox España, S.A. (Ventilation grilles). Vertice Vertical, S.L. (Life lines). Vitrocsa Iberica, S.L. (Alusion facade). Zardoya Otis, S.A. (Elevators and Stairs).

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Awards

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American Architecture Prize 2017. Honorable Mention. October 2017.
SPANISH ARCHITECTURE AWARD CSCAE 2017.

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Construction area

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Palace of Congresses and Parking Area.- 37.700m² Hotel.- 17.700 m²

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Budget

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€96,454,456.00

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Dates

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Project.- 2006-2007. Competition.- 2017-1º Prize International Project. Construction.- 2017.

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Location

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Palma, Spain.

FRANCISCO MANGADO

Francisco Mangado, (Navarra, 1957), is an architect from the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra, where he has been a professor since 1982. He has been a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at the Yale University, visiting professor at the EPF Polytechnic School of Lausanne, Baird and Gensler guest professor at Cornell University and visiting professor at the Polytechnic of Milan.

From his works they emphasize the Palace of Congresses and Auditorium of Pamplona "Baluarte" (2003), the Field of Soccer of Palencia (2006), the Municipal Center of Exhibitions and Congresses of Ávila (2009), the Museum of Archeology of Vitoria (2009 ), the Spanish Pavilion for the Zaragoza International Exhibition (2008), the BBAA Museum of Asturias in Oviedo (2015) and the recently inaugurated Palau de Congresos de Palma de Mallorca (2016) and the New Venue Building of Norvento Enerxia in Lugo (2017). Currently he develops his activity in several countries.

Thanks to this professional work he has received, among others, the Andrea Palladio Architecture Award, the Architecture FAD, the CEOE prize, the Construmat Architecture Award, the Fernando García Mercadal Architecture Prize, the Asturian Architecture Prize, the "Giancarlo Ius Gold Medal" awarded by the International Union of Architects, the Copper in Architecture Award, the RIBA EU Award, the Spanish Architecture Award 2009 and the RIBA for International Excellence, among others.

In 2011 he was named "International Fellow" of the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) and in 2013 honorary member of the AIA (American Institute of Architects). In November 2016, the Berlin Academy of Arts grants Francisco Mangado the Berlin Art Prize-Architecture Prize 2017 in recognition of his work.

In 2008 he founded the Architecture and Society Foundation, which works to favor the interaction of architecture with other disciplines of creation, thought and economy, which has received the CSCAE gold medal (Higher Council of Architects of Spain) 2015

In July 2015 he was appointed General Coordinator of Biennials and under his coordination was awarded to the Spanish Pavilion the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennial in May 2016.