TATLIN NEWS #44

adjacent streets, which does not allow many people to gather there, placement of the en- trance and the architectural identity of this contemporary art institution. Some special character is imparted into the building by an architectural grid of added storeys, which is perceived more like a sculpture than architec- ture. Special note should be made of the in- stallation included into the complex, which is a kind of a curtsey to the botanical gardens opposite. It is a vertical garden placed over the wall of the adjacent building, the first gar- den of such kind in Spain. Inner space has been constructed based on the same principle of being sculpture-like: coming in from a narrow street of Madrid, vis- itors enter the absolute embodiment of fu- turism. There are metallic walls of the plaza and stairs going inside, snow-white neon ex- hibition space, deliberately archaic facing of the conference hall, and halls that the light gets inside through the punctures in the fa- cade. Herzog & de Meuron achieve a lot with the help of textures. And they prove with each project of theirs that the beauty of architec- ture can be contained in a simple sheet of white paper in a mannered baroque frame, if one finds a proper allusion to art. Eventually both components win. object CaixaForum Madrid | location Madrid, Spain | design started 2001 | construc- tion completed 2008 | customer Obra Social Fundaci ó n «LaCaixa», Madrid, Spain; Caixa d’Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain | architects Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Harry Gugger | vertical garden Her- zog & de Meuron, Patrick Blanc | total area 11000 m 2 | plaza area 650 m 2

ТАТЛИН_news №2(44)57_2008 101