The exterior of the Asco Visitor Center, located in Tarragona, Spain, caught my eye but it was learning that it is a public facility for the nuclear plant next to it that caught my attention.

Containing an exhibition hall, conference and meeting rooms, the designers, Josep Camps and Olga Felip of Arquitecturia approached the design strategically by addressing the site of the nuclear plant as well as the geography at the same time:

On an urban scale, there was the opportunity of solving the end of the industrial area—a built system of mute containers. At a territorial scale, we understood the strategic location of the site, between the landscape and the urban core.

I like the idea that such a visitor center exists to educate and improve the public image towards nuclear energy and that its minimalist architecture of black vertical steel plates on the exterior and its geometry on the site implies that the context of the building is very much contemporary and relevant.

Photography courtesy of Arquitecturia