New Photos of Metropol Parasol

Architizer News

New Photos of Metropol Parasol

April 29, 2011

As Juergen Mayer H.’s $162 million dollar urban experiment took shape over the past few months, those of us not in Seville, Spain got a few photo updates of the project. But those grainy, iPhone-shot images — though they wowed us at the time — clearly did not do the honeycombed layercake justice. Photographers Fernando Alda and David Franck trained their lenses on the building and, on the same day as the NYT profiles the structure, have released arresting new images of the project.

After the jump, see the underside of Metropol Parasol (which houses archeological ruins), as well as the newly finished roofscape, and the tertiary spaces in the canopy that house a restaurant, shops, and other programs.

Even the Gray Lady — which writes on architecture outside of New York less frequently than some other outlets — has taken notice. They ran a profile today, in which Dan Saltzstein writes:

“The unusual shape of the building is a direct reference to the cathedral, Mr. Mayer H. said. “Seville was the innovator of Europe,” he said. “We wanted to reference that.” But, he added, he also wanted to both bring the look up to date and create a structure that was “democratic, open and urban.”

All images (c) David Franck, unless otherwise noted.