Manuel Monteserín

The story behind a project like this is interesting.

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We started this project ten years ago when we decided to enter an international contest for the design of the Pop City in Kaohsiung .

(On this website you can see the two phases of the contest: phase1 and phase2 ).

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2010 was a difficult year due to the crisis. We had a lot of energy and also many free hours to face such a large and demanding contest. In order to get to all that the bases asked for, we had to get together a group of architects and designers (seven in phase 1, including Beatriz Pachon and Javier Simó, who will accompany me throughout the project, and more than twenty, when all my Leon11's teammates, in phase 2)

In January 2011 we won the first prize.

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We were all quite young and winning a project of this magnitude forced us to do an accelerated master in real life.

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In 2012 we lost the reins of the project and for a year we returned to our day to day thinking that nothing could be done to recover them (very hard times). We got control of the project again a year later, redoing the basic project (which was already half done in Taiwan) and tackling the implementation project, much better armed and backed up by a lawyer, project manager and liaisons in Taiwan.

This was thanks to the help we received from Igor Barcena, Meng Han, Luis Ybarra, José Maria Cárdenas, Lee, Jacinta and a long etcetera. (This period is very well reflected in this Yorokobu article SEE HERE )

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This adventure has meant many trips to Taiwan and a great learning of oriental culture in general and Taiwanese in particular.

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In the construction phase, which we are finishing in 2020 and which has been led by the local partner, we have had to work hard to maintain a minimum control of details and finishes, something that has sometimes been impossible.

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They have been 10 complicated years with very satisfactory moments and others very hard and that have meant a before and after in the lives of many of us. Now I am extremely satisfied seeing how the citizens of Kaohsiung enjoy the public spaces, the green roofs and the buildings that we have designed.

This has been a project done in a very plural way and designed for people.

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To have information about what happens every day at the Pop Music Center, you can visit this page https://kpmc.com.tw

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