In 1987 the remains of “Aragosaurus ischiaticus” were dug up and catalogued by a group of researchers at the town of Galve, in the province of Teruel, the first dinosaur to be found on the Iberian Peninsula. The discovery inspired the architects of this culture and leisure centre project located in the historical town of Teruel which replaced an existing market building in Domingo Gascon Square to conceive a subterranean structure that also reinstates the external public space allowing pedestrians to walk over its landscaped roof. A series of multipurpose spaces are provided over the three underground levels including an auditorium that can also be used as a cinema or lecture hall, a large exhibition space that can also host events, a sports hall, a tourist information centre and a restaurant and bar. The exposed steel frame skeleton of the building is painted a vivid shade of red internally recalling the innards of some prehistoric beast and accommodating in total over 3,000 sq.m. of built space. It has been baptised Teruel-zilla after the famous fictional Japanese Godzilla monster who strode the screens of cinemas around the globe after first appearing in 1954 and is an iconic pop culture reference.

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