Industrial Heritage Converted into a Museum: The Case of the IAACC Pablo Serrano in Zaragoza

Abstract

The restoration of the industrial heritage for its use as museums has been revealed as an increasingly important phenomenon in the past few decades. This pursuit of reuse is due (among other causes) to the physical possibilities that industrial architecture offers for establishing new museums, but also to the willingness of contemporary architects for leaving their mark on the city. There are various examples according to the grade of success when integrating both modern and historical architectures. This paper is a monographic study case of a great example of industrial architecture turned to museum: The IAACC Pablo Serrano in Zaragoza (Spain). The Museum-Foundation Pablo Serrano opened its doors in 1994 in the old workshops of the Hogar Pignatelli; built in the early 20th century as planned by the architect Julio Bravo and converted into museum between 1987 and 1993. The architect in charge of this remodeling, José Manuel Pérez Latorre, was also designated as head of the latest enlargement of the museum in 2008, which has resulted in a brand new space focused to contemporary art and culture. This latest intervention –sometimes questioned because of its bulkiness and exterior– is of huge interest in order to analyze the relationships established between the museum and the city. The IAACC Pablo Serrano fits into an area of heterogeneous urban fabric, which combines a series of representative buildings alongside residential blocks without personality. In the present communication the dialog (either fluid or not) the museum creates with its environment is analyzed, evaluating the rights and wrongs of one of the flagship cultural proposals of the previous regional government.