El “B” Auditorium in Cartagena, Spain by SelgasCano.

“We refuse to include the harbour’s beautiful orthogonal monotony; we exclude the hardness of the port from the interior, and instead, we seek something that is completely the opposite – translucent, delicate, light, aquatic – something that has to do with what Luigi Nono defined as a space for water music.” – SelgasCano 

It doesn’t happen every day that I come across a public building which makes my design engine rev at a slightly higher rate. This little baby however… Wroom wroom! She’s a beauty! Located in the docks of the harbour city of Cartagena in Spain, this auditorium and performance centre El “B” was designed by Madrid-based practice SelgasCano (who are clearly talented, but boy do they have an average website – most unfortunate).

The plastic texture of the building has a magical, delicate quality – the translucent extruded polycarb panels expose the building’s metallic structure. There is a clever play of tonalities created with accents of neon paint into each piece, with varying colours and intensities. The auditorium itself has a surreal aquatic ambience – I imagine one would feel submerged under water in this space.

This building is such a breath of fresh air, don’t you think? Extreme love!

[Images © Iwan Baan.]