Miguel Delibes Cultural Center

The Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes houses the headquarters of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y Léon Professional Music Conservatory. The structure of this “small city of the arts”, as Bofill called it, is based on three different parts. First is the conservatory and a 500-seat chamber music room; second is the 1700-seat auditorium and a symphony orchestra hall; and, third, there’s a space with classrooms and rehearsal rooms for the drama high school and professional dance school, as well as a 400–600-seat experimental theatre. These three parts are assembled around a large covered, but open central space, designed as a plaza and meeting point for all citizen users of this city of culture. The facility also includes a library and an exhibition hall.

Both the auditorium and the chamber music hall are technically state of the art and provide excellent acoustic conditions, while the experimental theatre hall was designed to offer almost unlimited versatility to accommodate a wide variety of shows.

The project integrates three different parts unified under one wave-shaped roof, a symbolic shape that represents musical sound waves. The three buildings sit within a single envelope and are distributed around a large, covered, open central space, conceived of as an interactive atrium.

This public facility allows for the development of a new program of activities, thus contributing to the area’s regeneration by offering a range of valuable cultural services to the wider community.

The place is theatrical. The entrance sequence takes you around a sculptural, 180m long red wall and through a sliding glass wall into a classical yet ultra-modern entrance hall that leads into a series of primary functions: theatres, auditoriums, all-wood concert halls for chamber music, a large open-space room for experimental theatre, a music conservatory, dance and drama schools, as well as all their auxiliary and technical functions. It’s a magical place for an inspirational education and where the highest arts may be performed.