zeppelin magazine | no #52

Magma Arte&Congresos Adeje. Tenerife 2005
Set in an exceptional location close to the airport and highway, and placed in the biggest tourist spot in the island, surrounded by numerous hotel complexes, the MAGMA Arte&Congresos, the Convention Centre in Tenerife, appears as a reference point. The semi-desert landscape around it and the presence of the sea are the starting points of the concept of the building. Though it is not situated directly on the water, it does have a strong relation with the ocean, an imposing presence that frames the building with a constant view of La Gomera Island. The building takes advantage of this relationship, being set on the hill at the perfect height to show off its profile against the sea.

Centrala does not have a constant number of members, neither any order of operation to be routinely followed – it is not a company. More appropriately it should be called a platform where individual quests converge around common goals. It is rather a collective of as many people as a task ahead of them requires.

Creative industries (creative economies) and the creative city. Here are two interesting work concepts that we will encounter in the near future. The text bellow is part of the notes and information I gathered last year at a seminar called “Creative City” held in Dubrovnik (based on Zaklina Gligorijevici papers who presented there a piece of her more complex work, published in a booklet largely circulated within inner academic circles). So it happened that I was the only architect attending the conference. The funniest reply I got at my wonder on the missing fellow professionals was of course that architects erect buildings that have nothing to do with the city, a thing worth considering while speaking it.