Museum and Centre for the Innovation and Promotion of Iberian Cured Iberian Products

Architecture can sometimes become an instrument of representation. Assigning a way of inhabiting to a built form makes us talk about typologies. To build a centre for innovation and promotion of the Iberian pig pushes us to an interesting quest: to recover the origins, to travel through time and traditions. To search in the architectures of the pig, from the sheepfold to the cellar, from the birth of the piglet to the maturation of the ham, as those two parentheses between which the life and breeding of the pig takes place. Two typologies distant in time and form that delimit the enigmatic and attractive world of the Iberian pig and that have been one of the keys to the project.

The Tiro a Pichón is not an isolated building but a complex of buildings constructed in three phases. The first of these dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, and to which it owes its name. This corresponds to the building attributable to the architect Aníbal González. One of the first uses attributed to "El Tiro" was as a recreational palace, where the nobility enjoyed shooting pigeon. The second phase was built between 1936 and 1941, and the third and last phase was built in the 1950s.

The first project decision is to respect the Tiro al Pichón building and its original presence on the square. The ground floor houses the central tourist information point of "La Ruta del Jamón" as well as exhibition areas. The first floor houses the "Headquarters of the Regulatory Council of the Jabugo Designation of Origin". The 2nd floor is reserved for a co-working space for companies related to the sector. The communications core located in the south wing connects directly with the basement floor where we find the New Cellar, a multi-purpose space for ham curing, research and cooking.

The rest of the project is structured on the basis of the implementation of three isolated constructions which we call "majadas". Inside each of them we find a built piece (a) and a free area (b) facing the central square.

The first cairn is located next to the Pigeon Shooting building. Its function is to serve as a hall and distributor between the colonial building and the Tiro a Pichón building. Inside, there is a box in the form of a showcase, displaying hams, which connects to the cellar.

The second sheepfold is located in the northern part of the square, which needs to return to being that multi-purpose place where the people of Jabugo used to carry out a multitude of activities. It is the smallest of the three and is used as a cafeteria and toilets.

The third cairn is located above the old swimming pool. It takes advantage of the inclined geometry of the pool to place a tiered seating area and turn it into an auditorium. This area will be used exclusively for training, congresses, conferences, projections, readings and presentation of products to the media.