Centro Cultural de Benidorm

The long-awaited Benidorm Cultural Centre becomes a reality

The Benidorm Cultural Centre has been one of the most eagerly awaited projects in the cultural sector in the province of Alicante for many years. It provides services that have been widely requested by local residents and are expected to receive an excellent public response.

The prestigious architecture studio Navarro Baldeweg Asociados won the public tender launched by Benidorm City Council to carry out this project. After years of development and several delays caused by an unfavourable political and economic context for the completion of the works, the Benidorm Cultural Centre has been successfully finished and aspires to become one of the city’s contemporary architectural icons.

The Sociedad Proyectos Temáticos de la Comunitat Valenciana (SPTCV), awarded the completion works through a public tender to the Alicante-based construction company Ecisa, which participated in the bidding process together with the firm Orthem.

The Benidorm Cultural Centre project is more than the project of a building; it is the project of a small city. It houses spaces designed for large-scale activities, as well as others intended for smaller events, with connecting elements, the corridors, acting as the streets of this city. The open spaces, such as the courtyards located both on the ground floor and on the upper levels, are also similar in function and form to urban squares. The entire Benidorm Cultural Centre project is organised as a three-dimensional grid that integrates architecture and city into a single unified whole.

The Auditorium and Professional Conservatory of Music and Dance combine and balance the dependence or independence of the Centre’s activities according to flexible and organic usage requirements.

The auditorium, equipped with Figueras seats, has capacity for 450 spectators and is located below street level. Access is through a large double-height foyer where the main vertical circulation core and a café open to the public are located. The large ribs of the existing structural system, exposed without any cladding, characterise this space.

PRODUCTO SUPPLIED

The Alicia seat was the model chosen to equip this space. This seat was designed by the architect of the project,Juan Navarro Baldeweg, and developed by the Figueras Design team. It has also been selected by his prestigious architecture studio to equip other emblematic buildings, such as the Burgos Conference Centre and Teatros del Canal in Madrid.

The design of this seat, inspired by the lines of an elegant lapel handkerchief, consists of two clearly differentiated parts. On the one hand, the support, with its geometric form, is considered an extension of the space itself. On the other hand, the organic structure, which is in contact with the body, is characterised by a lightweight design capable of enhancing the hall while remaining in harmony with its functionality and aesthetics.

The backrest of the seat, with its spectacular and highly distinctive design, is formed by a tubular structure onto which a high-resistance tensioned fabric cover is fitted, providing exceptional comfort. The user’s back rests on a non-rigid structure with perfect adaptability, ensuring optimal ergonomics. In addition, the backrest of this seat contributes positively to the acoustic behaviour of the hall, which is one of its most outstanding features.

The seat consists of an internal structure made of 13-millimetre-thick beech plywood. A block of anatomically shaped high-density foam is placed over this plywood structure, providing great comfort for the occupant.

The seat is mounted on two lateral supports that hold the seat and backrest assembly, also incorporating the ball-joint mechanism for the seat return. Thanks to the Soft System damping system, the seat returns completely silently when it is vacated.