Can Spain carry out its dream of creating classy edifices?

Spain or the parliamentary monarchy in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula; a former colonial power is known for lots of reasons. While on one hand it is deemed as the fashion arbiter in several contexts, palatial buildings throughout the country in conjunction with their magnificent architectures elucidate the nation’s aristocracy, noteworthy stature, on the other hand.

Well, recent reports do suggest, the country is firm to stick to this legacy and carry forward it for the betterment of the posterity. This has led the concerned authority of the country to decide to build a good number of public buildings. The most prominent of these is the Campus of Justice that is set to house most of Madrid’s courts in 15 buildings and it is learnt that it will be made circular. Besides a network of underground tunnels connects the buildings.

The authority to turn this dream project into a reality depended on the most prominent names in the field of architecture in the global plane. These include British-based Pritzker-winning architects such as Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Zaha Hadid along with Alejandro Zaera Polo, whose award-winning practice is also based in London. But the sudden backdown of Alejandro from the project on account of not getting a big budget like others involved in the prestigious new court complex in the Spanish capital has given birth to a fresh controversy.

It is true that the internationally acclaimed Zaera has walked away from his half-built Institute of Legal Medicine building which is a hollowed-out, doughnut-like sphere. What has been the main reason behind this sudden decision? Is it a clash of personailty with Lord Foster, Lord Rogers and Zaha Hadid? Zaera brushes any such accusation aside and blames the attitude of the politicans who sternly refused to increase the budget by up to 53%, which is a necessity according to him. When asked he said candidly that the subject matter was related to professional reputation more and the low budget would make his project low in quality. This was neither expected nor accepted.

Though the other projects like civil courthouse of Hadid and high court and the provincial court of Lord Foster are in full swing, this decision has made the politicians and the pertinent authority red-faced.