The Fidal Foundation project will convert an abandoned mansion next to the Sucre Theater into a space for culture, technology and meeting.
Fidal Foundation dreams of a Eco Museum Library in the heart of Quito’s Historic center. An ambitious project is announced on a now dirty, crowded but forgotten corner, next to the Sucre Theater (Plaza del Teatro). It has the support of the Municipality and gains space before the private company. Fidal House commitment to technology, care for the environment and the value of culture, to promote many young people, starting with a corner.
“Rescue life in the Quito’s Historic center» has been the justification behind hundreds of cultural, tourist and commercial projects in this transcendental area of the city. Many of these failed; few enviably successful; in the midst of a whole range of truncated dreams, lost funds and frustrated hopes.
But those who love the city do not give up. And with this ideal in mind, to be able to inhabit the center from the inclusion and the spirit of construction of common spaces, comes the project of Fidal House.
the library of the future
The former President of the Republic, Rosalia Arteagapresented the project on the second floor of the house built in 1924 and until recently abandoned.
As its name indicates, the Museum will also be a library of reference and environmental and ecological research. There will be books, but much more important today is the access that will be achieved to bibliographic and cultural resources of foreign museums. The Foundationthrough their leaders, the sisters Claudia and Rosalia Arteagain addition to the management of its executive president, Patricio Jijón Larco, finalize agreements with museums such as the Botero, in Colombia, that allow the display of digital works of art on the screens that will surround the public spaces of the library.
The captive public will be the students of the 84 educational institutions that the Quito’s Historic center. But, in addition, the project seeks to promote security initiatives in the area of the Sucre Theater. The windows of Eco Museum They will have bars designed to safeguard not only the computers and screens that will be available to the users who inhabit it, but also the aesthetics of the project.
Rosalia Arteaga dreams of a museum full of archaeological pieces. A space that houses personal collections, donations and artifacts that connect today’s children and young people – so familiar with digital technologies – with everything that brought us here as a society. The transversal axis, however, will be the environment in which they lived and in which we live -or survive- today.
Contributions from the private company
The founders of the Foundation They are from Cuenca, but they are moved by a close connection with the city that has welcomed their families for several decades. Rosalia Arteaga, who also collaborates with LA HORA as an opinion columnist, remembers that this project is not unique. It joins very successful projects such as the Casa Gangotena hotel, Carlota hotel, the Museo del Alabado, and the return of several commercial premises and restaurants that aim to make the center a friendlier area for local and foreign tourism.
The model presented, as part of the architectural project directed by the winner of the competition called for this purpose, Juan Francisco Cazorla, tells the silent story of a building designed at the beginning of the 20th century to be inhabited by a wealthy family, who did not enjoy it for a long time. It passed from hand to hand until it came to belong to the Municipality of Quito.
Five years lasted the approval process of the loan granted to Fidal Foundation for the promotion of this cultural project. Finally, with the absurdity of the thousands of ordinances that hinder the management of the city, it was granted with the unanimous vote that approval requires.
The total cost of the project, which would take around 18 months, is estimated at 1.5 million dollars, for which it hopes to obtain support and donations from the national private company, as well as from foreign cooperation.
Projects of this magnitude are only achieved with institutional support from various entities, including the Municipality of Quito. Councilman Eduardo Del Pozo commented that part of the project would be accompanied by a modification of public transport routes in the center of the city, with the aim of decongesting certain areas and making them friendlier for passers-by. Angélica Arias Benavides, executive director of the Heritage Institute of the Municipality of Quitoalso attended the event. (DLH)
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