Rafael Moneo had a reencounter with his homeland when the Government of Navarre assigned him the project for the region’s new Archive, on what in the Middle Ages had been the palace of the Navarrese monarchs. The seriously deteriorated state of this palace, which had also housed the military government until it was abandoned in the 1970s, made a conventional renovation job difficult. An alternative was presented: absorb the existing fabric with new ashlars, maintaining the form and original color and texture of the palace. But this procedure could not be applied to the entire project. The new constructions used the same stone, but treated with current techniques. The result was a new palace of the monarchs of Navarre, an addition to the towers and walls that draw Pamplona’s skyline on the plateau dominating the Arga River.
Pamplona, Spain
Historic Patrimony Service of the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Navarra, Prince of Viana Institute
Archive building
Rafael Moneo
Project team:
Christoph Schmid (Architect)
Oliver Bieniussa (Architect)
Eduardo Miralles (Architect)
Francisco González Peiró (Quantity surveyor)
Juan Rodríguez-Villa (Architect)
Borja Peña (Architect)
Jacobo García-Germán (Architect)
Fernando Iznaola (Architect)
Carla Bovio (Architect)
Sebastián Guivernau (Architect)
Structural Engineer: Jesús Jiménez Cañas NB 35
Mechanical Engineer: I y S Iturralde y Sagüés
Copisa
11.000.000 €
15.000 m2
Comission: 1995
Construction start: 1999
Inauguration: 2003
