E.9 RE-DISCOVERING CONCEALED AREAS

The thorough inspection of the galleries as a whole for analysing and assessing their stability has led to the re-discovery of unexpected areas, basically involving the spaces between the building and the cliffside it stands on. These areas could be put to numerous uses in the future, but for the time being they are surprising sources of information, not only about the building itself, the damage it has suffered, the techniques used or the reasons for its design, but also about the local landscape, the site’s geological features and its history.

One of the highlights may well be the area you are now entering, located beneath the main hall in the north-west gallery and similar in size to it.

The need to inspect the concrete flooring, the foundations and the supporting structure in this part of the galleries required us to open up a safe entrance for builders, researchers and the general public, making the tour of the site longer. To do so, we have built this structure as an extension of all the other auxiliary scaffolding installed on the façade and connected to it.

In due course, we hope this process will provide a new exhibition area in which to display the different findings, but above all, somewhere to host activities associated with this entire restoration process.

Project and site management: Jose Gorritxo, architect