Baiona Public Library / Murado & Elvira Architects

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Text description provided by the architects. In 2010, when Murado & Elvira Architects won the competition to design the Public Library and Historic Archive of the city of Baiona (Spain), they decided   to design a place that would convey a  sense of domesticity to its users: they came  up with the idea of a warm wooden dress, tailor-made  for the ancient building. A dress that covers the interiors of the architectural body, leaving the exterior almost unchanged. The old Sancti Spiritus Hospital thus reconquered its original role, by becoming a new home for scholars and readers. And for tourists too. The city of Baiona, located on the west coast of Spain, is located along the Camino de Santiago and is visited every year by thousands of pilgrims. In  addition, the Baiona Historic Archive is one of the most relevant in the area, preserving  documents dating back to the discovery of Americas. Baiona was in fact the port where La Pinta, one of the three caravels led by Christopher Columbus towards the New World, arrived on its way back in 1493.