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The compositional elegance of this building derives from its apparent simplicity. The clarity of this volume, in truth, conceals a considerable degree of complexity resulting both from the uses to which the building is put, and from the design itself. The necessities of this type of building go without saying; the optional characterisation is the result of a specific creative process whereby no given form is pursued, but rather the “production” of a sequence of interrelated figures and spaces. The very definition of the architectonic volume is far removed from any classical criteria, and cannot be represented by a single image, but only by a succession of figures, sections and spaces. This immediately brings to mind the work of Eduardo Chillida, the Basque artist, and the energy he imparts to his surprising sculptures.
Simplicity is the end result of a careful design based on shapes and materials. The pursuit of unity through the employment of a limited number of elements in the architectural composition gives the work character, and helps it fit in with its surrounds. When seen in context, and from an opportune distance, the university pavilion resembles a solid block of hollowed-out stone. Veined Cehegin stone has been used to clad the entire outside of the building; the 3 cm.-thick slabs have been mounted according to an eloquent design of horizontal courses of two different heights.
The work is intended to be a neutral, compact, “stone” container, featuring a series of interrelated empty spaces designed to create a series of fascinating spatial sequences and tensions. The hollowing out of the solid mass resembles the chiselling away of material to form a sculpture: the resulting complexity is particularly evident in the interiors, where spatial “events” and “atmospheres” of various scale and type, follow on from one another in a dynamic fashion and in a variety of different directions: upwards, outwards, inwards. This work is strongly “marked” by a number of transparent, rarefied surfaces, by diverse transitions and delightful spatial sequences that combine to produce the vestibule (situated between two enormous empty spaces that compress it to create vertical tension), the large patio and the external opening at the entrance.
The central area hosts a variety of public functions and services (e.g. an auditorium, a cafeteria, a library and lecture rooms), while the university departments are variously located throughout the length of the building.
This “empty-space design” by the Spanish architects involves the skilful creation of openings designed to serve the functional purposes of the building as well as to satisfy architectural expectations, aware as they are of the fact that natural light plays a vital role in the definition of spaces.
Careful observation of the work reveals the expertise of Sancho-Madridejos in creating this hollowed-out stereotomic volume, which in truth is but a series of “bent stone surfaces”. This emerges in particular from the use made of the cladding: at the windows, the thin nature of the cladding is emphasised by its relationship with the load-bearing structure, which is independent of the cladding both when the latter imitates the masonry wall, and when it is transformed into a metallic grid. At these points in the building, the stone design continues in the form of a printed glass surface whose texture reproduces the sectional image of the same stone. This glassed surface comprises a ventilated covering – flush with the stone cladding – which acts as a shield against the sun’s rays, while the lock is situated on the inside of the wall, with just the occasional aperture devoid of any glass blind representing a break in this continuum.
A thin, ultra-light continuous skin – clearly visible especially from inside –sees the building move towards a “textile-like” definition of architectonic space.

Gabriele Lelli

Notes
* The re-edited essay has been taken out from the volume by Alfonso Acocella, Stone architecture. Ancient and modern constructive skills, Milano, Skira-Lucense, 2006, pp. 624.