The garden of the Fontecha Palace is an unprecedented secret place in the heart of Albacete and it will be the articulating soul of the project. Thus, the access to the Palace takes place from the garden, after cancelling the existing entrance from Tesifonte Gallego Street. It is in this garden where two small pavilions, the access area and café are built, arranging the garden space thanks to the visual connections they establish with the Palace.
The two noblest floors of the Palace are freed from any non-exhibiting function. The Palace’s lavishing interiors are kept intact and are in fact enhanced, contrasting with the blank and sometimes harsh canvas used in the Spanish realist paintings and the setting.
Articulating the assembly of the museum spaces, “exploded” in the garden, provides it with reason, but also allows for multiple uses through which the different pieces can vibrate in resonance, or not.
Let’s leave the Fontecha Palace as intact as possible, like a frozen footprint from the past… that expresses its forged wealth with uncultured and obscene ostentation.
Let’s value and bring to life the exceptional garden.