PINILLOS HOUSE. EXPANSION OF THE MUSEUM OF CÁDIZ

Pinillos house is located in the historical centre of Cádiz, whose compact urbanism was developed between the XVII and XIX centuries as a consequence of the role played by the city after the discovery of America. During this time, merchants coming from different locations built their houses until exhausting the urban fabric limited by the city walls and the sea. These manor houses share features that are very distinctive, such as its four levels organized around a patio or the lookout towers, singular element from the local domestic architecture. The building was donated to the Museum of Cádiz in 2006. The main objective of the intervention, promoted by the Ministry for Culture, was to regain its cultural values as well as equipping it with the necessary infrastructures to be properly use as a Museum. The implemented project had as a reference a prior meticulous historical research that allowed to distinguish the different constructive phases that span from the XVIII century to the XX century. The intervention has followed strict criteria regarding the conservation and promotion of all the significant elements and spaces. The typological structure of the bourgeois house offers different sceneries in each level, turning the museum´s visit into a diverse visit, linking different sequences that become lighter and more luminous as we move upwards. It can be distinguished through its section, the potential of the higher levels as basic shaping spaces in the building, privileged lounge areas in which also enjoy the exterior. Its adaptation lays upon a folded steel and glazed surface that surrounds the look-out tower and protects the patio as if it were a glass-roof, reinterpreting this traditional element from the bourgeois houses from the XIX century. At the end of the journey we discover the vision of an urban landscape cropped over the sea. From this height we recognise numerous houses and look-out towers that, just like the Pinillos House, make up the singular historical centre of Cádiz.