Akra Leuké (White promontory) is the name by which a first settlement, in what we now call Alicante, is known. Our approach borrows Akra Leuké’s etimology and establishes itself as a white promontory heading forward above the sea, with a bigger, main auditory volume. The office tower, located as a part of its same architectural ensamble, is introduced as another piece of the modern urban development of the city at play. In this way, a dialog is held between the permanent and the fleeting; the natural and the urban. The cobbled roof emulates the uphill to Santa Barbara’s castle, bringing the user towards a terrace viewpoint. From that same base a tower emerges encompassing the office programme. The Castle and the Tower, arguably two of the most representative elements of Alicante, now connected through two different areas. An innate coastal landscape reproduced, where two contrasting geometries side by side, the promontory and the tower, the congress centre and the office space. To finish off, the ‘Muelle 7’, transforming into a linear park growing over the pruposed parkinglot integrated through a surface letting the green grow in the new public space, undrawing the solid mineral character of the existing. The new Congress centre aims to be a social and cultural equipment for the residents of the city of Alicante, a new meeting point for locals and visitors alike, able to hold a great diversity of activities, introducing itself as a new piece to the existing public equipment web of such a city.

Type: Public Building Status: Open Competition Unbuilt Size: 20 000 m2 Collaborators: Gr-os