Exit Architects turned this former prison in Palencia into a cultural and civic centre with a glass pavilion Weathered steel towers and cylinders poke through the grass at this underground museum in the historic city of Lugo The angular facets of this auditorium in Alicante are inspired by the craggy rocks of the Mediterranean shore The differently pitched roofs of this psychiatric centre in Zaragoza point to how much mental activity occurs in each room This music hall in a village near Alicante is clad with shimmering porcelain tiles Mesh ribbons spiral around two bridges by French architect Dominique Perrault in a Madrid park This auditorium and congress hall in southern Spain has concave walls that look like the sucked-in cheeks of someone taking a deep breath A bumpy steel exterior lets light sparkle through the walls of this railway control centre in Albacete This culture and leisure centre in Teruel is half-submerged into the town square An abandoned market hall in Aragon has been transformed into a children’s centre with a slide connecting its floors The bright red Cibercentro Macarena multimedia centre is nestled conspicuously between drab apartment blocks in Seville Triangular tiles and windows tesselate around this Madrid museum, formerly a brewery Visitors arriving at this theatre in Almonte pass under a bulky concrete cafe resting on glass walls A rainbow of colour wraps around this sports hall in the town of Arteixo in A Coruña The Bajo Martin County Seat in southern Spain has a facade of alabaster blocks which allow light into the civic hall Timber shades shield the upper windows of this extension to a town hall and former prison in the World Heritage town of Baeza The red panels of this health centre contrast with the earthy tones of the surrounding architecture and the Sierra de Gardor mountains A pond with stepping stones can be found inside this Madrid museum about the history of the Manzanares river The wooden roof of the Inca Public Market in Majorca zigzags around a plaza as it slopes down to ground level Visitors enter this museum of energy near Tarragona through a translucent curved wall
Slideshow: Spain's economy may be in tatters but that hasn't stopped it opening a raft of impressive public buildings in towns, cities and even remote villages over the past year. Amid bailouts and claims that extravagant architectural projects have helped cause the problems , here's a celebration of more modest projects from Spain such as museums, town halls, markets, auditoriums, bridges and even railway control centres featured on Dezeen recently.
Update 15/06/12: this story was originally titled "how Spain spent its money." We changed it in response to feedback from readers (see comments section below) who felt we were blaming the projects featured for the country's current economic problems, which was not our intention.
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