Madrid-based architecture studio Paredes Pedrosa has been commissioned to design the Córdoba Public Library in the Jardines de Agricultura. The library is located in a privileged location where the tranquillity of a study and reading site meets gardens from the 18th century.

Thanks to its shape, the library blends in with the layout of the garden, respecting the existing trees and flora. A flown balcony introduces the vision of the treetops into the interior of the living room.

The project is one of the 50 finalists of the XVI BEAU Awards (Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism).
Paredes Pedrosa organize the library in a trapezoidal plan that goes from level -1 to level 3. A continuous and precise façade-lattice is chosen, it helps to build a limit towards the Avenue and the representative image of the institution.

The lattice allows the unification of views and lights, produces transparencies between both layers of the façade. It allows users to enjoy the views without being seen, aerating and refreshing the space by filtering the light, thus creating a warm space perfect for reading and studying.

Public Library of Córdoba by Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos. Photograph by Roland Halbe.
 

Project description by Paredes Pedrosa
 

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

Cicero

The Library, with a privileged location in the Jardines de la Agricultura, assumes the difference in level between the elongated urban park and the avenue that buries the railway tracks. Its trapezoidal plan originates from the layout of the 18th century gardens, respecting the existing trees and staggering its height towards the park where a cantilevered balcony introduces the view of the treetops inside. The continuity of the Gardens allows to go out to read and share activities and the park becomes part of the library.


Public Library of Córdoba by Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos. Photograph by Roland Halbe.

On its opposite side, a continuous and precise façade-lattice towards the city, builds the limit towards the avenue and the representative image of the institution. This three-dimensional latticework of modular cast aluminum pieces unifies views and lights, filters the west orientation and produces a transparency between both layers of the façade, facilitating maintenance and cleaning of the façade, unalterable under the patina of time.

This is how the traditional latticework is interpreted as allowing one to see without being seen, aerating and cooling the rooms and sifting the light and which, inside the main reading room, fragments the scale of the space acting as a silencing sound absorption. Also, the local Chinese Cordovan pavement on the balcony and outdoors reminds us of the origin of the stream that was the park in the Caliphate of which a wall remains remains in the children's area.

More information

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Architects
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Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos. Lead architects.- Ángela García de Paredes, Ignacio G. Pedrosa/

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Collaborators
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Álvaro Rábano, Álvaro Oliver, Lucía Guadalajara, Clemens Eichner, Roberto Lebrero, Luis G. Pachón.
Technical architect.- Jesús Bozzo.
Structure.- Alfonso Gómez Gaite, GOGAITE S.L.
Facilities.- GEASYT S.A.

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Builder
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BANASA Construcción. TRAGSA.

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Developer
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Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte.

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Area
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7.194 sqm.

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Location
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Av. de los Mozárabes, 3, 14011 Córdoba, Spain.

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Photography
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Ángela García de Paredes (1958) and Ignacio García Pedrosa (1957) are architects from the Architecture School of Madrid, where they teach. Invited professors in other Spanish and foreign universities for teaching, critics and speakers. They founded Paredes Pedrosa Studio in 1990, after collaborating with José María García de Paredes for several years.

They are authors of, among other works, the Valdemaqueda Town Hall, Valle Inclán Theatre in Madrid, the Archaeological Museum of Almería, Peñíscola Auditorium, La Olmeda Roman Ville, Ceuta Library or the Lugo Auditorium. Their work has been recognized with the 2007 Spanish Architecture National Award, ar+d Award, Europan II and IV, Europa Nostra, Madrid Architecture Award, Mansilla Award, Gold Medal International Prize for Sustainable Architecture, Mediterranean Sustainable Architecture Award and 'Golden Medal for the Merit in Fine Arts' 2014, given by the Culture and Sports Spanish Ministery. Their work has been exhibited in many national and international architecture biennials.

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Ángela García de Paredes Falla (Madrid, 1958) is architect from the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid in 1982 and a doctor, Extraordinary Prize for doctoral thesis - dedicated to the work of her father, José María García de Paredes - from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2015, where she is a professor in the Department of Architectural Projects.

She began working as an architect collaborating, together with her husband Ignacio Pedrosa, in her father's studio which, after his death in 1990, became Paredes Pedrosa arquitectos Estudio de Arquitectura.

She is vice president of the Manuel de Falla Foundation, founded by her mother, and Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando for the Architecture Section.

In 1990 he joined forces with Ignacio Pedrosa with whom he shares his professional and research activities, having obtained numerous first prizes in competitions and having built more than twenty buildings, and having been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts 2014. In addition, his work has been exhibited at the Venice International Architecture Biennale in various editions.

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Ignacio García Pedrosa (Madrid, 1957) is architect from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, where he obtained his doctorate in 2015, receiving an extraordinary award for his thesis Auditorium, a typology of the 20th century.

Since 1995 he has been an associate professor of Architectural Projects at the ETSAM and has been a guest professor at various institutions such as the IUAV in Venice, the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, etc.

In 1990 he joined forces with his wife, Ángela García de Paredes, to open the Paredes Pedrosa studio. In his professional career they have won first prizes in competitions and built more than twenty buildings, highlighting public works of a cultural nature and public housing.

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Published on: August 9, 2023
Cite: "Relationship with a privileged location. Public Library of Córdoba by Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/relationship-a-privileged-location-public-library-cordoba-paredes-pedrosa-arquitectos> ISSN 1139-6415
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