Mexican architects to build Cantabria’s Museum of Prehistory and Archeology

The Mendoza Partida architectural studio , owned by two young Mexicans, has been the winner of the competition on ideas for the construction of the new headquarters of the Cantabria Museum of Prehistory and Archeology (MUPAC) and its administrative building, a proposal that would initially be worth USD $50.6 million .

Culture vice-president and advisor Pablo Zuloaga

revealed on Monday the decision of the jury of the competition on ideas for the construction of the MUPAC at the plot left by the Cantabria Government and whose bidding is expected to take place by the last three months of 2021 .

Zuloaga added that this will allow them to keep on searching for “the required funds ” for the construction of the building, whose works will begin in 2022 or 2023 .

The next step, according to the vice-president, is for the Cantabria government to sign a contract with the study based in Barcelona , which will be worth USD $1.9 million .

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Under the name “ Strata ,” the project of architects Héctor Mendoza and Mara Partida , who according to Zuloaga have designed “prestigious buildings” such as Norway’s Art and Culture Museum and the García Lorca Museum in Granada, plans the new MUPAC to have 10,941 square meters and another 7,500 for its administrative building.

The two most important criteria for the jury, that selected this project unanimously, were the singularity of the architectonic project and the fulfillment of the museum’s needs , including the administrative building, that will be built in the land that used to be the headquarters of the local government at the Casimiro Sain Street, next to the Santander yachting port.

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Zuloaga added that both buildings will be “ perfectly distinguished .” Hence, the first floor of the museum will have services such as a café, a restaurant, and a shop, as well as a multipurpose room, while the second floor will be the home of the library.

The next two floors will hold the MUPAC’s permanent exhibition with a “spectacular” temporary exhibitions hall that will feature a large terrace with views to the Santander Bay .

According to Zuloaga, the jury has stressed that this building keeps “a proper dialogue” with its urban context . “The impact of the building is less than other projects for the same place we all remember,” he said.

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