The structure was supposed to be located far from this World Heritage site, but still not far enough that tourists could not reach it on foot, so the contestants had to certainly take into account such awe-inspiring neighborhood.
Alvaro Siza proposed to solve the complex completely in line with his individual style: laconic rectangular blocks are inscribed in the picturesque landscape, without merging with it, but also without creating dissonance - emphasizing both their geometricity and the organic nature of natural forms. The horizontal orientation of the volumes makes them invisible when looking from the Alhambra: such details are especially important when working with a UNESCO monument, since this organization especially monitors the preservation of the historical appearance of the area, in the so-called. the buffer zone of the historical structure.
At the same time, Siza substantiated his project in an almost revolutionary way. He drew attention to the combination in the Alhambra complex of two heterogeneous monuments: the exquisite Islamic residential architecture of the palace of the Moorish rulers of Granada with a series of small courtyards and the Renaissance monument - the palace of Charles V by architect Pedro Machuca: an ideal order building of a large scale with an amazing round courtyard for bullfighting, surrounded by colonnade. According to the Portuguese architect, despite the fact that behind this contrast there is a sharp change of power - the Moors were expelled by the Spaniards from the Iberian Peninsula just a few decades before the creation of the Renaissance palace - the new building, boldly placed by Machuca in the existing structure, did not destroy it, but gave a new meaning and emphasized the characteristic properties - both their own and earlier structures. The resulting series of volumes and voids, routes and spaces with scale differences that make up today's Alhambra may well serve as a model for a new structure, equally determined by the "spirit of the place" and the requirements of the program.
The second place in the competition was taken by the Granada architect Guillermo Vazquez Consuegra, and the third - by the “Cruz & Ortiz” bureau.
