Palma de Mallorca
La Misericordia Cultural Centre is the result of the renovation and transformation of an austere and functional building in which architectural nudity predominates. The ‘Casa de la Misericòrdia’ was a charitable institution founded in 1677 whose initial location was a large house with an orchard next to the General Hospital. There were later extensions and improvements over the following centuries, until the late 19th century.
The recent redevelopment has transformed the spaces to accommodate various types of events by creating multifunctional areas and has enhanced the building’s Ajiub in particular. Aljub is a word of Arabic origin, as is the irrigation system that can still be found in some of Mallorca’s most interesting places, and what looks like a centuries-old cathedral was a water cistern. The aljubs were used to store rainwater and use it in times of drought.
The architectural firm has imagined a pathway that, step by step, through a tunnel, on which plays of light lines have been created with Trick, leads into a world of its own. The visitor is plunged into darkness – until the eyes have adjusted – and at the same time one can feel the dampness of the former cistern, while an ethereal sound fills the space.
