The future CaixaForum in Malaga will be shaped like a drop of water and will be covered by a skin of small ceramic flakes inspired by Sorolla’s color palette, according to the project led by architects Felipe Pich-Aguilera and Teresa Batlle, who have conceived a building one hundred percent sustainable avant-garde that, beyond its functionality as a large cultural center, will create a new green lung, with a large outdoor garden in Manuel Azaña Square, one of the most visible entrances to the Andalusian city. The unique cultural facility will occupy 9,417 square meters, will cost around 30 million euros and will be inaugurated at the end of 2026.
The project by the Barcelona studio Pich Architects, which also has offices in Madrid and Mexico, was selected from a total of nine proposals and “will be the most unique in Spain,” in the words of the president of the La Caixa Foundation, Isidro Fainé, who During his presentation he expressed the desire that the new center “contribute to the strength of this city, which has the admiration of all of Spain and also the world, and today is the flag of modernity and cosmopolitanism, without losing its ancient essence.” Also present at the event were the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, the deputy general director of the La Caixa Foundation, Elisa Durán, and the architect Felipe Pich-Aguilera. The one in Malaga will be the seventh center in the network, which already has offices in Madrid, Barcelona, ??Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza and Palma.
The unique design in the shape of a drop of water appeals to the importance of this element and the commitment to the environment, “at a time of climate change that especially affects the Mediterranean regions,” according to the architect, who has conceived the building. as a “landscape” that will also act as a “climate shelter”, since it has been oriented following the solar path to take advantage of and protect itself from the sun.
Another of the peculiarities of the equipment conceived by Pich Architects is that it will have zero energy expenditure, that is, it will produce all the energy it consumes, for which it will have covers of vegetal mantles, photovoltaic panels and ceramic pieces that prevent heat accumulation. “The architecture of the building is the expression of something that art has been explaining for some time and that is that there can be a more fluid relationship between building and nature. Progress and the environment do not have to be opposing terms,” argues Pich-Aguilera. “In the future,” she adds, “all buildings will have to be made this way, and this CaixaForum shows the way.”
The architect speaks of a “landscape building” and adds that one of the driving ideas of the project is to “create an impact and a positive reverberation in the environment.” For this purpose, a large outdoor garden open to the public has been chosen. The interior will have two large exhibition halls, an auditorium and multipurpose rooms on the first floor, while on the lower floor there will be the educational space, a cafeteria-restaurant and a bookstore-store on the ground floor. According to Elisa Durán, six annual exhibitions will be offered, in addition to 1,500 activities, for which a budget of five million euros will be allocated.
Among the projects of Pich Architects, several scientific and technological research institutes stand out, such as the Agricultural Science and Technology Park of Lleida, the Centro Tecnológico Leitat, Barcelona or the Sant Pau Scientific Research Institute. They are also authors of the Hospital Universitario Sant Joan de Reus or the Centro OUM Wellness de Monterrey, in Mexico.
For the mayor of Malaga, a city that already has a wide range of museums, with flagships such as the Picasso or the headquarters of the Pompidou Centre, the new center places them “in the leading group of the major Spanish capitals.”
