Disfrutar
in the Alhambra

This travelling exhibition produced jointly by the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife and the Aedes Architecture Forum of Berlin invites us to discover the architectural project for the New Entrance and Visitors Centre of the Alhambra, jointly designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira and Juan Domingo Santos, architects from Portugal and Granada respectively, who in 2010 won the “International Ideas Competition: Atrium of the Alhambra”.
After its presentation in the Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin in March 2014, the exhibition has been travelling to various venues including the Vitra Design Museum (Weil am Rheim, 2014), the Palace of Charles V (Granada, 2015), the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design (Oslo, 2015) and will end its journey at the Aga Khan Museum (Toronto, 2016-2017). 

Using a combination of audiovisual exhibits, drawings, plans and scale models, the exhibition invites us to immerse ourselves in the sensitive, conceptual approach of these magnificent architects, who have skilfully managed to combine the historic and the contemporary.
In line with the guidelines set out in the Master Plan for the Alhambra, this new space will become a “genuine entrance gate” to the Monument, which must be perfectly adapted to its surroundings; a space that is modulated by the topography of the terrain which will dialogue respectfully with the Monument and its grounds without imposing itself on it in any way. 
The main objective is to build a worthy entrance to the monument that will cover a wide range of services for visitors which are today considered vital in one of the world’s most important cultural destinations: to welcome, guide, inform … It must also house a restaurant, cafe, terrace, toilet facilities, offices, left luggage, a shop, places where people can meet and rest etc. 
Equally important will be its role as a space of transition between the fast pace of the keen traveller, the hustle and bustle of the city … and the tranquil, sensual introspective space offered by the Alhambra. The Atrium will help us prepare our senses and our outlook, so as to enable us to fully enjoy the experience of our most unique heritage … The vocabulary of light, shade, water and nature must transport us smoothly from the present to the sensitivity of the Nasrids, the builders of these palaces.
Exhibition venues: