Arquitectura of Francisco J. del Corral del Campo & Parque de las Ciencias

Nate (my SvR colleague) and Francisco met at a conference in Rio de Janeiro. Nate put us in touch and Francisco has gone above and beyond, welcoming me to the design community in Granada.

He teaches at the University and invited me to a collaborative workshop on scenography between the architecture & art department. The class was in the process of creating models relating to a work of Federico Garcia Lorque, the famous Granada poet. It was quite interesting, though to be honest I couldn't understand much of their explanations & commentary due to my emaciated Spanish skills (Thanks to Tom all I know how to say is traiga tu culo sucio a mi oficina, ahora mismo!).

Last Friday, he invited me and some of his students to tour the 'Public Spaces for Events Forum de Negocios.' The public spaces were created to augment a preexisting office building in southeast Granada. Photos below.

From the project description: "On the boundary of the urban city, next to the fertile low-land (Vega), just where urban geometries are replaced by rural ones, we propose a new landscape for events and celebrations placed close to an office building"


Above, Roof space # 1 - herb gardens & traditional plants from Alhambra and Generalife, red carpet highlights the interplay between urban and rural settings.

"Our landscape carpet tries to create a new reality to dialogue with the existing one instead of using other camouflage strategy."
The second roof space used an installation of recycled glass bottles. Francisco noted that they were very unhappy with the final installation of the bottles...

Francisco also expressed his dissatisfaction that the water feature was not being actively used by the building owners - That a place that intended to be lush with waterlilies and flowing water was still and inactive.

"Water is one of the main instruments used for shaping the different spaces. Its sound and presence modifies our feelings. It springs calmly some times, others its sonorous and rhythmic, it follows our steps on a water stair and propose our rest ending in a pond thanks to a channel guided by one of the designed strength lines."

The interplay between different materials & textures were accentuated by oxidized steel, which Francisco called "strength lines."

It was wonderful to hear Francisco speak about his work, and meet several of his students (though our conversations were once again limited to halting Spanish).

After the tour, I headed to Parque de Las Ciencias (the science museum) - across the street.

Entrance to the museum

museum landscape included many interactive features including playgrounds, fountains, water courses, solar panels, etc.

One of the exhibits was about taxidermy - means, methods & uses in museums and science.

I also went to an exhibits about Darwin, a journey through the human body & Ecology in Spain.

Interactive water feature

One of the museum buildings - jointly owned by the university...and the first building Francisco designed in Granada!

Bird & Cat profile (they're both real)