Silvia Moreno Seville

Seville

Updated Friday, February 16, 2024-21:31

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The most advanced super-library in the country has just opened its doors in Córdoba, in a privileged location surrounded by the centuries-old trees of the Agriculture Gardens, so called because the area was a large expanse of fields and orchards, which the city council acquired in 1866. to turn them into an extensive garden. The building's enormous windows make it feel like you're in a

"Scandinavian library"

from inside , jokes

Francisco Javier del Río

, the director of the center that has become one of the hottest capitals in the entire country. with temperatures above 40 degrees in summer.

Precisely to cope with the

adverse climate

of Córdoba, with extreme heat in summer and cold in winter, the building has incorporated materials and techniques that adapt perfectly to the most extreme temperatures, as

Ángela García de Paredes

, author of the project, explains to EL MUNDO.

project together with

Ignacio Pedrosa

, both from the Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos studio. They verified the perfect adaptation of the library to the weather conditions of Córdoba last summer, when on one of the visits to the property, they realized that the temperature inside was very pleasant even though the machines had not yet been started. of air conditioning.

The facade of the new library of Córdoba.PAREDES PEDROSA ARCHITECTS

To achieve this adaptation to the environment, the building's facades

have been key

. In one of them there is a thick

aluminum lattice

that shades and filters the light that comes from the outside. The other façade, glassed and facing the park, has

two overhangs

that provide shade inside. Everything is thought out and cared for in detail to achieve

maximum energy efficiency

, as detailed by architect García de Paredes.

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The library has been named

Grupo Cántico

, in homage to the group of artists from Córdoba, mainly poets but also painters, who published a magazine with that title in 1947. It has a constructed area of

​​more than 7,000 square meters

, almost six times more than the old headquarters. The project, which is located on a plot of land donated by the Córdoba City Council, has involved an investment by the Ministry of Culture of more than

20 million euros

, an amount that doubles the 10 million considered more than a decade ago. The library has accumulated

significant delays

, since it was announced in 2004, but work did not begin until 2014. The inauguration was on February 7. Management, now, corresponds to the Junta de Andalucía.

Lattice façade of the library.FERNANDO ALDA

The architect García de Paredes qualifies the

extra costs

. According to her figures, the initial budget, approved in February 2009, rose to

10,647,342.74 euros

. From that amount it has risen to between 14 and 15 million euros, which is divided between the 9 million that the last phase of the work cost, carried out by the public company

Tragsa

, and the more than 5 million that were paid to the

Banasa

company

for the first phase of the building. Therefore, the extra cost would be about

5 million, not ten

.

Among the more than 20 million invested by the Ministry of Culture are the 14-15 million for the work and the more than 5 million that the furniture, computer equipment and other services and equipment of the complex cost.

Material prices

The cost has increased in these years "not because there were errors" in the initial project or something extraordinary has arisen, García de Paredes clarifies. The increase is fundamentally due to the

"exponential" rise

in the prices of construction materials since 2009, especially after the coronavirus pandemic.

Furthermore, since the project was drafted in 2009, even some

construction regulations

have changed , which forced the initial plans to be remade to incorporate and adapt the new regulations on

air conditioning and insulation

. This "slowed down times that were already long," admits architect García de Paredes, who, however, is satisfied because the "most important thing is that the building has adapted to the times."

Umayyad wall

The work suffered another stoppage when the archaeological remains of what was an Umayyad wall dating back to the Caliphal era were found. The valuable find has been integrated into the complex.

The remains of the Umayyad wall dating from the Caliphal era.FERNANDO ALDA

These vestiges of the past coexist with the

latest advances in technology

. The building is articulated through a modern and technologically advanced space, equipped with state-of-the-art connectivity systems. The greatest innovation is found in the implementation of an RFID-UHF

radio frequency system

, a pioneer in the State's public libraries, which allows the user to manage the loan of books or audiovisual material without going to any window, if they previously have a library card. library. The system has anti-theft protection and an

external

smart mailbox that allows the

return of books

without having to access the interior of the building.

The library has a collection of more than

240,000 documents

, including books, films and magazines. There are also some bibliographic gems, such as

80 incunabula

and a codex from the late 13th century.

Córdoba has been waiting for its new library for so many years that practically since it was inaugurated last week, the "complete" sign has been posted and there are

queues at the counters

to get a membership card, as the center's director explains. The building is so impressive that there are groups of friends who have organized visits to see every corner of the complex. The goal now is "not to die of success" and for students, researchers, children and the curious to live together in harmony... and surrounded by books.