the Córdoba Bus Station, a multitude of
memories of my first journeys came to
Estación Central The Córdoba Bus Station is a work of
great urban importance to the new part
de Autobuses of the city. It is a large work measuring
Córdoba 105 metres wide and it functions as a
public space of the city. This building
reconciles the new part of the city with
César Portela the historical centre and Córdoba’s
1999 older, more emblemtaic buildings. Por-
tela talks about this and his memories
of Córdoba:
Above View of the bus shelter “When I was given the commission of
César Portela studied architecture at
Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura
mind. Old memories that, in turn, fused de Barcelona. He moved to Madrid af-
with more recent memories about the ter his graduation in 1966, and in 1968
Mosque and the courtyards of Córdo- he earned his doctorate at the Madrid
ba, in the awning clad streets of Anda- school of architecture. Awarded the
lusia, with their space, with their light Spanish National Architecture Award
and their flowers, with the sound of wa- in 1999 for this Bus Station, César
ter in the courtyards of the Alhambra, Portela has been awarded honours by
in the gardens of the Generalife and in numerous national and international in-
the Alcazar...” stitutions. He also has a busy teaching
career, and now holds the professor-
ship of Architectural Design at E.T.S. in
Views of the surrounding mountain
ranges of Córdoba can be seen from
Above Left The thick granite wall
La Coruña.
the station, creating a relationship with
Above
Left
Main entrance
Aerial View
them. A thick nine metre high granite
wall encloses the life of the Bus Sta-
tion from its surroundings. Inside, is a
courtyard with a semicircular bus shel-
ter which is supported by numerous
columns. They appear almost playful
due to the amount of them, all exactly
the same, but somehow different as
light hits them at different angles.
Exercise Two Seán Feeney