Standstill Architecture
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The economic crisis in Spain has produced the cease and abandonment of aspiring and
outstanding facilities conceived to fulfill amusement luxury during those happy years of
wellbeing and abundance. The aspiring restoration of the old Balneario of Panticosa,
located on the heart of the Spanish Pyrenees, and its transformation into a luxurious and
modern tourist resort was suddenly vanished, producing for example the closure of the Gran
Hotel designed by Rafael Moneo and the cessation of the construction –at its very ending
stage– of the High-Performance Sports Center designed by Alvaro Siza. The images faithfully
depict this sad reality and suggest a totally different visual narrative of the architectural space.
[Images taken with permission of Panticosa Resort]
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Iñaki Bergera. December, 2011