Vigo University Campus Exhibition

The Vigo University Campus is developed in an area far away from the city on land with very difficult topography, which happens to be a forest exploitation area. The university area grew from its initial plan, due to the establishment of different faculties, which were built throughout the area without a clear connection. The situation has little to do with the high quality of the architecture that has been built by careful and foresighted architects. This situation has made the University of Vigo an important example.

The purpose of the exhibition was to present this architecture to the people of Vigo, since it is not well known to those who are not students. It was set in the Casas de las Artes, an exhibition area in the converted Banco de España, with a detailed selection of exhibited showing that the project is closely linked to the setting and over-all reference to the Campus. IT served as a zoom-in on each one of the buildings. Drawings, exploration sketches, miniature models, photographs of the finished buildings, and books and magazines which described the architecture of the campus were gathered. The exhibition began in an itinerant location, which was limited by the economic situation.

All of the works were presented, starting from the CUVI, by Desiderio Pernas, an architect from Vigo, worthy of praise to the never built design by the Prikzer-awarded architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha, who was requested to do the design, which would restructure and interconnect the campus. The campus consisted of towers and pedestrian bridges. The most widespread buildings are those by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue’s MBT studio, the classroom building and the shopping centre, the sports center and the rector’s office, finished by Miralles upon Tagliabue’s death. The rest of the buildings are of designs by architects with renowned and extensive careers: Alfonso Penela, Alberto Noguerol, César Portela, Gabriel Santos Zas…

Photographs: Manuel González Vicente.