2013 BOY Winner: Outdoor

Firm: Martín Lejarraga Arquitecto
Project: Terminal de Cruceros
Location: Cartagena, Spain
Photography: David Frutos

A “both/and” situation is what you could call this Mediterranean cruise-ship terminal. Functionally, it shelters facilities for immigration controls. Metaphorically, it serves simultaneously as a connection to the water and a threshold to the city that enlivens the arrival experience for passengers—first when looking down from the decks of the docking ships and then when passing through en route to such tourist attractions as the city’s Roman amphitheater.

Transforming the main pier in the busy port, Martín Lejarraga’s intervention comprises 13 pavilions totaling 120,000 square feet. The curvaceous flat roofs, supported on stainless-steel columns, are concrete clad on top by ceramic tile—two materials that can tolerate the constant assault of water and corrosive salt air. Oculi in the roofs create patterns of light and shade underfoot. The fragmented pattern of the tile gives a nod to ancient mosaic techniques, while walls constructed from curved glass panels are screen-printed with schools of fish.

Project Team:
Juan Cebrían; Martín Jaúregui; Mar Meigarejo; Betariz Cascales; Javier Poveda; Claudia Montoya; Julian Lloret.