The Galician Center of Contemporary Art will be the second building to be erected by Álvaro Siza in Spain, this time in line with the celebration of the year of St. James. The site is naturally within the complex urban scheme of Santiago. It is more or less triangular in shape, with a sharp angle right in front of the convent of Santo Domingo de Bonaval. Given such a context, Siza has opted for a composition predominated by the volumes that are posi­tioned along the two main directions. These directions correspond to the two main sides of the lot. So through two perpendicular figures the building is an L, and the comer forms an entrance hall which opens on to the side street but not to the convent square. The inside of the L is a triangular covered courtyard which serves to establish the spatial relationship between the various premises. Passage is mostly along a central spine that branches out here and there to lead into the various exhibition galleries and ancillary areas. The permanent collection is to take up the entire first floor of the long arm nearer to the convent, and will be toplit through central skylights... [+]