Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain
Fernando Menis of Menis Arquitectos has unveiled plans for the construction of The Rodin Museum in Tenerife set to be built in the former Viera y Clavijo Cultural Park in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, paying respect to the culture of neo-Gothic architecture, but also to the location’s natural surroundings.
In his design, Menis transforms the former cultural park into an open and green public space, as well as being home to the second Rodin Museum in Europe.
The museum is a solution to restore the Colegio de la Asunción, a neo-Gothic church that had been converted into the first girls’ school in Tenerife, which was in operation until 1978.
The old building still stands today, but its condition is getting worse.
Local authorities have designated the school as an Asset of Cultural Interest in the Canary Islands (Historic-Artistic Monument) since 1986.
The new museum will be built with minimum interventions, aiming to create an urban oasis and restore the neo-Gothic building, a listed cultural heritage of the Canary Islands.
While the main center of the Rodin Museum in Paris, there are only two other spaces dedicated exclusively to the French artist: the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, United States, and a wing dedicated to the sculptor at the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum in Japan.
The scope is that Rodin Museum in Tenerife will become the third in the world dedicated exclusively to the French sculptor.
The Viera y Clavijo Cultural Park is located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which is an iconic landscape and cultural space from the beginning of the 20th century, in which a former neo-Gothic church stands out.
It was later repurposed as the first school for girls in Tenerife.
After its redesign by Fernando Menis, the museum will be public and offer a 15,000-square-meter green space in the urban heart of the capital of Tenerife.
As an iconic landscape and cultural space, the Viera y Clavijo Cultural Park was built in 1903 with a design by the architect Mariano Estanga and the engineer José Rodrigo Vallabriga, named after the botanist José Viera y Clavijo.
It was a cultural complex, made up of the Pérez Minik Theater, now in ruins, and the Colegio de la Asunción, a former neo-Gothic church founded by Belgian nuns, later transformed into the first school for girls in Tenerife, which was in operation until 1978.
The only example of a neo-Gothic religious building in the city, the School has been classified as an Asset of Cultural Interest in the Canary Islands (Historic-Artistic Monument) since 1986 and is still standing, although very deteriorated due to inadequate reforms, alternated with years of neglect.
The park is home to extensive gardens that contain some botanical gems such as its immense Ceiba (Ceiba pentandra), a Caribbean tree, whose crown extends to a diameter of more than 20 meters.
In its shadow, the students of the school received classes in the middle of the 20th century, enjoying the mild climate of the island.
In the gardens, there is also a bronze sculpture by Joan Miró, the Femme Bouteille or Colosal Insecto, which was donated to the city of Santa Cruz in the mid-1970s as a result of the International Street Sculpture Exhibition.
The future Rodin Museum Tenerife will above all be a large, open, and have 15,000-square-meter green public space in the heart of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, overlooking the sea and the ravine, with a prominent role in re-establishing the connection between the lower part and the upper part of the city.
The objective of the project is to restore the building and heal the vegetation, prepare them for the intense public use that they will be given as an urban park and home to the Rodin Museum.
The intervention is based on the minimum necessary touch-ups complemented with strategic actions, which seek to make the park a green lung, connect it with the city and open its views to the sea, make it accessible and easily passable, thereby helping to solve some of the mobility problems in the capital of Tenerife.
The studio will restore the old school and the chapel, while the current park will be expanded in the form of a green ring.
A small forest of Ceibas will be planted to accompany the existing specimen and urban orchards will be included for pedagogical purposes to recall this tradition that already existed in the Colegio de la Asunción.
Committed to Menis’ “The Zero Kilometer” principles, the studio will use an economic and sustainability strategy.
The redesign project will be built with only local materials, crafts, and companies that can be accessible in the local area.
The circular economy is prioritized through the use of recycled aggregate, limestone, and picón (local volcanic stone), while favoring passive solutions for lighting, ventilation, and irrigation.
As far as the materials used in the project, they will be durable and have low maintenance.
Project: Rodin Museum in Tenerife
Architects: Menis Arquitectos
Lead Architect: Fernando Menis
Client: Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Hall
Drawings/ Renderings: Menis Arquitectos
