a folded stone roof crowns this visitor center in the spanish hillside

the Cantabria Rock Art Center by sukunfuku studio

Located on the hillside of Monte Castillo in Spain, the Cantabria Rock Art Center by sukunfuku studio is a new museum and visitor’s hub sporting a dramatic concrete and stone composition. ‘The program demanded a relatively large volume, on complex grounds and immersed in a landscape of great beauty,’ begin the architects. While relatively monolithic and opaque in appearance, the center does break out of its solidity via a large entrance along its main façade and a U-shaped courtyard at the back, with its three sides fully glazed to let ample daylight pour inward. 

all images © Adrià Goula

 A C-SHAPED VOLUME EMBRACING THE SITE’S NATURAL SLOPE

The team at sukunfuku studio divided the Cantabria Rock Art Center into three separate blocks: a reception and service area, an exhibition hub, and a restricted zone. These three volumes organize themselves around the central courtyard that distributes and connects the center’s different spaces. The resulting C-shaped volume faces the natural slope of the plot, which closes the building to create a green tribune. ‘The mountain becomes part of the program, the protagonist articulating the building, inviting the visitor to go out and acting as an external space associated with the activities of the center,’ comments the studio. 

Cantabria Rock Art Center by sukunfuku studio

Moving to the interiors of the visitor’s center, the architects coated most of the surfaces in pure and meditative white tones to expand the sense of space, inviting the public to unwind and relax while exploring the premises. Thanks to the generous glazing fronting the courtyard area, natural light pools in and enlivens the indoors further — especially in the reception area, where a series of black-tinted pendant lights populate the ceiling and emphasize the horizontal expansion.

main entrance

merging concrete walls with a folded stone roof 

The building unfolds over two different levels; sukunfuku studio resolved the lower part with concrete walls in the areas containing the land, mainly glazing the façades overlooking the patio and the access area. On this base sits a stone roof, sewing the three volumes together and folding to become part of the façade, generating a chromatic contrast of scale and texture. Ultimately the Cantabria Rock Art Center integrates and interacts with the natural environment around it, creating a relationship with the topography and breaking its volumes to adapt to the environment.

a folded stone roof merging with concrete walls

breaking the solidity of the volume with voids and glazing

view toward the C-shaped courtyard

glazed façades take over all three sides of the courtyard

reception area

washing the interiors in a white backdrop

1/14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

project info: 

name: Cantabria Rock Art Center | @cuevascant

location: Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Santander, Spain 

client: Consejería de Cultura de Cantabria

architecture: sukunfuku studio | @sukunfuku.studio 

team: Miguel Huelga, Iria de la Peña
construction manager: José Manuel Gómez Illa
structural engineering: Estática Ingeniería SL
mechanical engineering: A6 Ingeniería SL
context collaborator: Mónica Pérez
landscape consultant: Arantxa Zabalza
curtain design: Akane Moriyama Studio
contractor: Siec SA

photography: Adrià Goula | @adriagoulaphoto

plot area: 10,000 sqm 

total area: 1,678 sqm