Music Hall In Algueña / Cor & Partners

Architects: Cor & Partners
Area: 1,020 m²
Year: 2011
Photography: David Frutos
Lead Architects: Miguel Rodenas, Jesús Olivares
City: Algueña
Country: Spain

The Music Hall in Algueña, designed by Cor & Partners, transforms a former Guardia Civil Building in Alicante County into a multi-purpose cultural venue for music, completed in 2011. This project revitalizes a 670 m² area, adding an auditorium with 230 seats to support diverse cultural programming. As a second phase, a park and open-air auditorium will further connect the village with future urban zones. By rehabilitating the 1960s structure and incorporating vibrant new elements, the hall merges historic preservation with modernized community spaces.

Algueña, a small village in Alicante County with a population of 2,000, relies on agriculture and marble industries for its economy. The architects were tasked with designing a space to consolidate the village’s cultural and musical activities and foster future cultural development. Their work aimed to find, articulate, and execute an opportunity for such a unifying space.

Within the limits of a €562,800 budget and an extensive schedule of music-related activities, the first phase involved refurbishing the former Guardia Civil quarters, unused since the 1980s. This provided a base of 670 m² that required only adaptation, alongside the addition of a new 350 m² auditorium with a capacity for 230 seats. In the second phase, a park with an open-air auditorium was proposed, designed to link the village with its planned urban expansion area.

The project’s main opportunity lies in defining a program that goes beyond aesthetics and material form, focusing instead on building a lasting opportunity and a detailed activity schedule for Algueña.

For communities like this, where budget increases are rare, the design required close alignment with local needs and comprehensive involvement from stakeholders to ensure its effectiveness.

The project is situated at the village’s western entrance, near historic wineries, on a plot where the new urban plan will develop. Beside the building, a green area is reserved for a future open-air auditorium and a jacaranda-lined garden, designed to transition between the new and old urban zones, adding environmental quality to the area.

The site contains a 1960s structure, the disused Guardia Civil quarters, with well-preserved load-bearing walls and a U-shape that features a central courtyard ideal for this program. The architects’ plan involves repurposing this building to support the new cultural activities.

New construction separates from the old structure via staircases enclosed in glass boxes, illuminated from above, adding a delicate contrast to the building’s robust form. The multipurpose auditorium seats 230, with flexible, movable seating and facilities that accommodate various events, from concerts to social gatherings, facilitated by a storage space for easy reconfiguration.

The central courtyard is designed to host open-air rehearsals or other gatherings, with no permanent fixtures, and is connected to a secondary outdoor space proposed for an additional open-air hall. This design maximizes functionality with minimal intervention.

In the existing building, the architects opted for a straightforward rehabilitation, retaining original construction techniques and applying a gradient of white finishes for a fresh, striking effect that subtly transforms the familiar structure. Meanwhile, the new auditorium takes the form of a sealed, distinctive volume clad in a pearly, iridescent material that enhances its unique presence.