After the signing of the reconsideration act that took place last week, which gave the starting signal to the long-awaited rehabilitation of the Viera y Clavijo Cultural Parkyesterday the workers of the company awarded the works, Sando, began the work of collecting material to, in the next few days, begin the works effectively.
This emblematic space in the capital has been waiting for more than 15 years, since the path for its rehabilitation began, for this moment to arrive, a path in which it will be immersed for the next two years, the estimated duration of the works, in which almost 12 million euros will be invested. But that will not be the end of the road, since, as recognized by the City Council, the Pérez Minik Theater is still pending, in whose continuity or demolition the Cabildo and the Capital City Council do not agree, and which will be addressed in a second phase.
Of the total cost of this intervention, the Government of the Canary Islands will provide just over six million, thanks to the agreement signed more than 10 years ago and which has now been redefined with a new addendum that adjusts the annual payments. The rest of the money, up to 11.8 million, which is the exact amount of the work, will be put by the capital city council. The rehabilitation project bears the signature of the prestigious Tenerife architect Fernando Menis, who expressed respect for both the pre-existing architecture and the surrounding nature as the central idea of this work: the vegetation, the ravine and the topography.
Menis’s proposal is to rehabilitate the old school and the chapel, and the current park will be expanded in the form of a green ring. A small Ceibas forest will be planted to accompany the existing specimen and urban gardens will be included for educational purposes. As regards the main building, the drafting team proposes the construction of four new vertical communication nuclei to solve the accessibility problem presented by the central building.
In the semi-basement of the south wing, a new space is added, as a warehouse/storage in connection with the new freight elevator. This allows accessibility to all floors of the building. It is intended to solve the pedestrian connections with the environment, so that pedestrian access to the space is favored. This means that the outer walls will be removed, giving continuity to the transition between the park and the Rambla.
The park that takes its name from the botanist José Viera y Clavijo was built in 1903, with a project by the architect Mariano Estanga and the engineer José Rodrigo Vallabriga. It has been formed as a cultural complex made up of the Pérez Minik Theatre, whose recovery is not included in this phase, and the Colegio de la Asunción, an old neo-Gothic church founded by Belgian nuns, later transformed into the first school for women in Tenerife, which It was in operation until 1978. The only example of a neo-Gothic religious building in the city, the school has had the category of BIC since 1986.
