Prize-winning architecture in A Coruña

[peregrina2000]

I think the Pritzker prize in architecture is the preeminent one. Today’s New York Times has an article about a Japanese architect, Arata Isozaki, who won this year’s award, and who has a building in A Coruña. It is pictured in the article and the caption says it is the Domus Museum. I have been to A Coruña recently and never saw this place, so i wonder if others have seen it and can comment.

Pritzker Prize Goes to Arata Isozaki, Designer for a Postwar World (Published 2019)

The architect synthesizes Western and Japanese influences without ceding to one style.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Deleted member 67185]

I think the Pritzker prize in architecture is the preeminent one. Today’s New York Times has an article about a Japanese architect, Arata Isozaki, who won this year’s award, and who has a building in A Coruña. It is pictured in the article and the caption says it is the Domus Museum. I have been to A Coruña recently and never saw this place, so i wonder if others have seen it and can comment.

Pritzker Prize Goes to Arata Isozaki, Designer for a Postwar World (Published 2019)

The architect synthesizes Western and Japanese influences without ceding to one style.

www.nytimes.com

What a gorgeous building

 

[mylifeonvacation]

It is a striking building! I have never seen it from the angle in the article, but just from the street, driving by. If you leave the Torre de Hercules going towards the right (heading for the Orzán and Riazor beaches) you'll first pass the aquarium on your right and then around the next curve the Domus is up on a hill to the left. From the road it’s a huge curved wall that faces the sea. There’s a very nice restaurant at the top with incredible views of the bay.

 

[peregrina2000]

I think one of these raves is tongue in cheek, That’s probably because, like me, @davebugg, we’re a little too old school for these post-modern constructions. Some of the article just went way over my head, like:

“Unlike those American postmodernists who believed that classicism held the key to a usable past, Mr. Isozaki appeared to understand that no amount of historical excavation could uncover a firm foundation on which to build the present,” the critic Herbert Muschamp wrote in The Times in 1993. “He perceived that a time that had lost its faith in the future had also lost its grip on the past.”

And I find the description of the museum and its exhibits to be equally confounding!

Domus

www.coruna.gal

@mylifeonvacation, I take it you haven’t visited the museum? Has anyone? It’s described as an interactive museum with 150 modules, the first museum in the world dedicated to the human being.

 

[VNwalking]

Wow.
I never got past the incredibly scenic and very traditional part of the city by the port.
But the content of that museum is right up my alley so next time I have some time on my hands in Santiago it looks very much worth a visit. And the architecture is the icing on the cake.
View media item 8091

 

[TheTinkerBell]

Yes, it's definitely worth a visit. For only a few €'s entrance, you'll see and learn much about the human body. It's strange that such an 'interesting' piece of architecture is located in an area of the city which is not exactly 'obvious' to tourists. But that's the beauty of A Coruna for you, gems of sights dotted all over the place.
By the way, the location is as @mylifeonvacation describes above. It's on the Paseo Maritimo, which in itself is a fabulous walk encircling the city.

 

[natefaith]

Yes! I've been there once, and visited when the Human Body exhibit was on display (can't remember the exact name of the exhibit, but it's the one where real bodies are put on display). It is a grand building and has a prime location on the Paseo Marítimo. I don't remember much else about the visit, since we were chasing three little kids around, but there may have been a small movie theater involved.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Anyone have any comments about the interior? The Guggenheim in Bilbao looks great from the outside but the layout inside was as bad as the special exhibits it was showing.

 

[KJFSophie]

Anyone have any comments about the interior? The Guggenheim in Bilbao looks great from the outside but the layout inside was as bad as the special exhibits it was showing.

Interesting you should state this, as I've visited 3 different Guggenheim Museums in different countries and ALL seemed to have chaotic interiors that were less than pleasant to navigate. All three seemed to be in the middle of changing exhibits, but there was no signage to confirm that and the 'traffic flow' was confusing. I wonder if this is simply a feature of a Guggenheim?