Marine World Museum

Huelva, Spain

Architects: Cruz y Ortiz

Location: Huelva, Spain
Year: 2001

Visitors and Investigation Center. Doñana National Park

The building sits on a dune system that is separated from the beach by a sand base that reaches thirty metres in height. This is an isolated and unique building, half buried with respect to the highest points of the site, in this way seeking its own place in the landscape. A geometrically complex floor, intercepted by a homogeneous section, creates the interior spaces needed to house a small museum dedicated to the marine world.

The entrance hall is accessed by means of a portico at the start of the long hall to which are connected several adjacent rooms dedicated to specific issues related to the sea. From this said hall -lit from below by light reflecting off the waterthe visitor accesses the other complementary spaces. The return route runs through the large room by means of a somewhat elevated walkway, which allows for a better view of the exhibits. It will only be at the end of the tour when the visitor discovers the linear pool of water in which the light is reflected.

The formal and functional diversity of the different areas that make up the Centre are unified by a roof that, with its distinct slopes, establishes relationships with the surrounding dune landscape. The expressiveness of the floor, at the intersection with the inclined plane, is manifested on the roof by meansof a broken edge that draws the volume of the building.