Review | Francisco Mangado at the 2017 November Talks in Graz

For the third part of the 2017 November Talks, a passionate teacher, a daring designer and a preserver with a delicate touch came to Graz in the form of Francisco Mangado. The Spanish architect talked about the challenge of combining old and new, of taking responsibility and forging new paths.

"I would have gotten bored sitting at home", admitted Francisco Mangado, who had to hold his lecture while sitting down due to a leg injury. It seems as though nothing could throttle his energy or keep him from presenting his thoughts, theses and the ideas he turned into buildings. "All architects bear a great responsibility, including as teachers", he began his lecture before discussing his plan of founding a post-graduate university. The former economics student passionately lamented that architecture is increasingly transitioning from something that borders on art to an economic activity in which the architect becomes a "facade consultant". Born in Navarra in 1957, the Spaniard earned his architecture degree from the local university in 1982. He believes that "90 per cent of Spanish architecture is lost". The main task of modern architecture, he said, is to transform requirements and quality into buildings.

In the form of the archaeology museum of Álava, the historic Basque country with its capital Vitoria-Gasteiz, Francisco Mangado showcases an intervention in the centre of a medieval old town that makes a statement while respecting its surroundings. The L-shaped concept earned the office a first place in a competition. It snuggles up against the existing buildings in a way that conveys continuity, the facade is pure structure, and vertical slat elements – clearly the trademark of Mangado – engulf the building. "The entrance area is an open space", the architect explained. "Visitors are supposed to breathe in the building's atmosphere". An (almost) black colour dominates the interior and exterior. Dark, vertical boxes seem like a letter case – geometrical but, thanks to the wooden structure, not too rigid. Diagonal cubes, illuminated with white light, break through the rooms. They are reflected at the wooden ceiling and the floor. Skylights siphon natural light into the room. "I want to create intimacy and proximity. And I want people to be curious about the exhibits, in particular children", Mangado explained his thought process.

An additional museum project, Oviedo's Museum for Fine Arts in the Asturias province, takes the convergence of modern architecture and historic existing buildings to an extreme. As one of the country's most important museums, it is supposed to be surrounded by buildings from different epochs. The demolition of the existing buildings would have meant the destruction of seven buildings, and therefore the end of an entire historic street. Francisco Mangado also won this competition – with a radical idea: The historic facades will remain, just like the set of a film. The gutted windows provide a view of what is behind them. Because this building is by no means a Potemkin village: The second layer, the mechanical facade, combines old and new in a sophisticated technological manner. Via stairs, it allows visitors to reach the upper storeys. Behind it is the third layer – the actual museum. It is a modern firework of geometric, cubic, light and smooth glass, aluminium and wood impressions. Natural light enters the building from the sides and the top and harmoniously changes the atmosphere in its interior throughout the course of the day. Mangado emphasised the ambiguity of the building: "On the one hand, it is part of the historic street, on the other hand, it is a modern museum".

The convention centre in Palma de Mallorca also had to blend into historic surroundings. The shape of the building profile on the narrow floor plan of 50 by 500 metres borrows from the historic city wall and thereby continues the contours of Palma. "The transformation of continuity was one of my biggest challenges", recalled Francisco Mangado. The vertical slats are once again a protagonist and provide the large building an airy sense of lightness. The building tapers toward the ocean: A terrace in this area provides a perfect view of the cathedral. Aluminium foam was used generously. It reflects light, shines and still provides a sense of lightness. "All parts of the building – the hotel, restaurant, exhibition rooms – are supposed to reflect the special light of Palma", Mangado emphasised.

The dialogue partner in the final project Francisco Mangado presented is not tradition, but nature. In Lugo in the Galicia province, the new headquarters of Norvento, a renewable energy service provider and research centre, was built. Amidst "terrible industrial buildings", Mangado placed a familiar-seeming building complex that is more reminiscent of holiday homes than corporate buildings. Completely energy independent thanks to a photovoltaic system, the flat structure captivates with an almost rustic eucalyptus wood exterior – that includes the vertical, dark Mangado strips. "As opposed to Austria, wood construction is absolutely atypical in Spain", the architect explained. "With this project, we proved that it's possible to use eucalyptus for construction". The required forests were located in the immediate vicinity of the building. In fact, its finger-shaped offshoots nearly touch them. While the complex is conspicuous and unique, it respects nature and melts into it – just like this historic facade of the art museum.

Francisco Mangado was born in Navarra in 1957 and graduated from the Navarra School of Architecture in 1982. He was a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Yale School of Architecture and the l’École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. In 2008, he founded the Architecture and Society Foundation, which fosters the interdisciplinary cooperation between architecture and other fields. His Spanish Pavilion at the Expo Zaragoza 2008 won numerous awards, including first place at the 7th ASCER Ceramic Architecture Awards in 2008 and at Construmat in 2009. His studio is located in Pamplona.

November Talks

The successful “November Reihen”, a lecture series on contemporary architecture, has been funded by the non-profit Sto Foundation since its launch in 2006. Stuttgart, Graz, Milan, Paris, Prague and London are the six venues . Exciting work reports by renowned architects can be experienced there.