For millions of years, the Bardenas Reales have been explaining, in their own way, how time works. Erosion has sculpted a landscape of hillocks, clay, and strata that tells, layer by layer, the geological history of the region. When the Bardenas Reales Community commissioned us to design the new Interpretation Center in Carcastillo, that history became the starting point for the project.
Matter that remains, matter that disappears
The landscape of the Bardenas can be understood as a continuous process: the conglomerates, sandstones, and limestones—the hard material, the stuff that endures—protect the soft clays beneath them—the material that erodes away—and form the park’s most iconic hilltops. This duality between what withstands the elements and what yields to them was directly translated into the building’s architecture.
The walls, horizontal and continuous, are constructed of ceramic tiles set in lime mortar and local aggregate. They evoke layers of clay, a material subject to erosion. The roof, by contrast, is flat, green, and made of concrete: heavy, stony, resting on the walls just as a hilltop rests on the land. A chimney breaks the horizontal line of the structure in the same way that Castildetierra breaks the flatness of the Bardena Blanca: as an iconic element that draws attention and guides the visitor.
A building that blends into the landscape
The site is located on the outskirts of Carcastillo, in an open, unremarkable setting. The project responds with clear geometries and simple volumes: a pavilion organized around three courtyards that welcome visitors from the north (the town center) and from the east (the parking lot). The layout consistently seeks long views, both inward and outward, with axes of light that traverse the building, aligning openings and opening the main spaces to the landscape.
The north courtyard, which is the most prominent, connects the offices, the multipurpose room, and the service areas. The west courtyard requires little water, making it well-suited to the surrounding semi-arid climate. The south courtyard features a botanical garden with native species, designed as a welcoming space where visitors can gather before entering the center. The use of minimal materials and a calm scale allows the furniture, the vegetation, and, above all, the visitors to bring the building to life.
A bridge between the rural and the natural
Beyond its facilities—a permanent exhibition, a multipurpose room for 60 people, an information desk, a botanical garden, and a parking lot—the Interpretation Center aims to serve as a threshold. It is a transitional space between the urban fabric of Carcastillo and the natural landscape of the Bardenas, between the built environment and the territory that we seek to understand and preserve.
The project was designed in collaboration with architects Jesús Fernández Beltrán and Francisco Javier Recalde Mugueta, with funding from the European Union’s Next Generation Fund. Construction is currently underway, and the opening is scheduled for the summer of 2026.
