El Batel Auditorium and Congress Centre, Cartagena, Spain, Selgas ...

CRITICISMDAVID COHNLast March, when Queen Sofía inauguratedthe Batel Auditorium and Congress Centrein Cartagena, Spain, the moiré patternsthrown off by the thin stripes of her suitplayed a nice riff against the backlittranslucent plastic walls and lime-whiterubber floors of the building. In fact, everyonelooked terrific strolling up and down thelong entry ramp to the concert hall. Likethe expanse of stone that spreads out beforePhilip II’s monastery-palace at El Escorial, orthe sandy walks in Madrid’s Retiro Park, thebuilding’s luminous, abstract surfaces puteveryone on stage, transforming their movingfigures into a stately pop ballet.The building, designed by José Selgasand Lucia Cano of the Selgas Cano studio inMadrid, extends for 210m along the formermercantile wharf of the port, and is itselfconceived as a promenade. It terminates thelarger promenade that stretches for 1,000malong the waterfront, incorporatingrestaurants, cafés, a yacht club and theNational Museum of Underwater Archaeology,designed by Seville-based architect GuillermoVázquez Consuegra and opened in 2008.Together with Rafael Moneo’s restorationof the Roman Theatre (AR February 2009),located on the hill behind the wharf and alsoopened in 2008, these works form part of aneffort to attract tourism and redevelopmentto this ancient city and naval base, foundedby the Carthaginians in 227BC.From outside, the building resembles anindustrial assembly line of unadorned volumesin different sizes, interrupted by abruptvertical cuts that throw natural light intotransitional interior spaces. The volumes arefinished with great simplicity and evidenteconomy in repeating profiles that, were theynot translucent and glowing with LEDs fromwithin, would differ little from conventionalindustrial-grade corrugated siding (the costof the 18,500sqm building was €34.5 million).Selgas Cano designed just three customextrusions that clad virtually every verticalwall. For backlit and translucent surfaces,they designed a wide clapboard-like elementwith fitted edges along its length and aslightly peaked profile (like an open hand,says Selgas), which is made of Plexiglas onthe exteriors (to block UV radiation) andpolycarbonate inside (for its fire resistance).The extrusion has an uneven ribbed backto break up light and blur images andimperfections. It is tinted in various tones,including solid white for opaque backlit walls,and aquatic blue for the main auditorium,where it is backed by mirrored film to set offshimmering reflections. Three beads of accentcolours, each six microns wide, are laid intothe translucent elements (phosphorescentoranges, yellows, blues, greens).The short end walls of the exteriorare clad with a screen of irregularly-placedvertical aluminium fins, with an asymmetricaltriangular section (one face is curved and twoare straight). The Madrid street artist SpYdesigned a vivid colour scheme for the entryfacade screen, which has a double readingdepending on your direction of approach (leftor right). It is emblazoned with a supergraphic‘B’, the architects’ preferred name for thecomplex, which comes from the Batel Beachthat lies beneath the wharf. The roof, visiblelocation planEl BatelAuditorium andCongress Centre,Cartagena, Spain,Selgas Cano0 1 5 10north elevation0 1 5 10south elevation32 AR | APRIL 2012