In Pamplona, the residential growth has evolved in an orderly way, without encroaching upon the city center and leaving the task of organizing the urban fabric to the open spaces (landscaped parks, walled precincts, squares, gardens, river promenades). Furthermore, the existence of military buildings linked to the walled precinct of the Renaissance fortification has allowed, at a time when land is scarce and expensive, to endow the city, after demolishing the military buildings, with new facilities that the citizens had been demanding for a long time.

It is within this context that the new Congress Center and Auditorium of Navarra finds its place, rising on a plot between the urban core, established as commercial and institutional center, and the Vuelta del Castillo, a large park in the heart of the city that spreads its gardens beyond the defensive bastions, serving as well as a leisure zone for the neighborhoods in the southern areas of the city. The auditorium follows an L shape, stretching its two bays all the way to the edges of the plot – the military government to the west and the walls to the south – and generating in the center a large square that, with trees and a rough paving of slabs, links the complex to the perimeter streets. Square and building become one single space, for which the latter splits into two: a functional wall defines the L and houses offices, systems and services, while in the remaining space, as added elements of the square, stand the two auditoriums and the exhibition areas. The former – the larger auditorium on the west wing, and the smaller one where the two wings come together – are freestanding pieces, boxes that are shaped according to the strict canons of use and size required; the dressing and storage rooms in the basement and the hall areas on ground level relate and serve both. The latter, also used for lectures and conferences, take up the southern wing, and rise above the wall offering panoramic views of the gardens.

The concrete walls form the structure of the building, and are transformed into pillars there where a more flexible use – parking, exhibition rooms of variable size – so requires. The torched black granite clads the walls, while the windows are set in thick frames of Ipe, an oil-treated Brazilian wood. The archaeological remains of the bastion of San Antón, fifth point of the star of the citadel, are now incorporated to the areas for exhibition, lending their name to the complex.