Restoration of the Hospital del Rey, Melilla, Spain

Project 1990-1996

The building, despite its terrible external condition, still had a solid structure, prototype of the military architecture introduced in Spain by Flemish military engineers. The project had to be different from the original, despite the fact that the aim was to recover the building from its state of neglect.

From the inside of the building, one could only discern the open sea. The rear of the building, which was in terrible state, was totally restored in order to establish new and more decent connections between the two floors. Likewise, several ancient underground corridors were recovered and even the window sections were rebuilt and linked spaces were projected amongst the recovered elements. The work shows a modern architecture based on archaic and basic roots, searching proximity to the military architecture design. The main purpose was to reinforce the original nature of the building, while avoiding the shapes of the past.

Author: José Ignacio Linazasoro
Collaborator: J. Puldain