Alberto Campo Baeza

We would like to design in Montenmedio the simplest and loveliest space in the world. A memorable architecture to be remembered. Given that the countryside of Vejer de la Frontera is itself is very beautiful, and prestigious artists have already visited (the American Sol Lewitt and Spanish Susana Solano, just two examples), the least we can do is offer a corresponding architecture.

The proposed intervention accommodates the museum’s cultural uses and at the same time organizes and articulates the natural landscape it inhabits. With the greatest possible delicacy, it underlines the qualities of the surrounding environment as only the best Architecture can do.

We propose an architecture of white walls that accentuate their horizontality, as if they were the white vapor trails of a jet engine in the blue sky. These walls follow a north–south axis that will serve as the recognizable basis of our intervention. Like the Roman wall in Pescile, the north-south orientation allows one to walk in shade during the summer on the northern side, or settle beneath the warm winter sun on the southern face. Architecture in this way enhances the magnificent natural setting in which it is placed.

The walls will be roofed to form the spaces to house the cultural uses: exhibition galleries, library, lecture hall, cafeteria, etc. These spaces may be low single heights or double height spaces, adapted to the slope in the terrain. At different points, where greater vertical space is needed, the earth will be excavated. Among the different areas, there are large courtyards with water and flowering vines common to Andalusia: bougainvillea, jasmine, wisteria and grapevines bridge the walls when shade is needed.