The project by RCR arquitectes recovers the place subtly and makes it accessible to visitors. An intervention that reinforces the character of the landscape and activates the surprise factor in its discovery.

“In the volcanic Natural Park of La Garrotxa in Les Preses, near Olot, there is a unique place: a sea of rocks that is the product of the basaltic mass of the Croscat volcano and the result of man’s hard struggle to own a piece of land to harvest. A fertile terrain in which the plots were gradually levelled and the stones removed to be used later in broad walls, mounds and sheds. Their morphological bumpy and tactile texture stimulates the senses.”

“The project aims to recover the place cleaning it of weeds and undergrowth, strengthening its rough character through the sight of the accumulated stones and suggesting an itinerary that permits discovering the park little by little. A series of signs or the vegetation itself show landmarks, forks and frames along the path. A biological agriculture, of products hardly ever harvested in the region, is kept in good condition.”

“The most marked intervention is located, however, in the access to the precinct. A series of grooves, traced between the volcanic stone by discontinuous walls of Corten steel sheet, creates an initiation path of ridged triangular geometry, endowed with a severe, bold and, to a great extent, unknown beauty.”

Images: Plataforma Arquitectura

Text: AV Monografías 137 (2009) Madrid: Arquitectura Viva

La entrada Piedra Tosca Park | Strengthening the singularity of the volcanic landscape | RCR se publicó primero en More Than Green.

The intervention establishes a new relationship between the bay and the city, or between the water of the bay and the citizens. The dynamic nature of the tide is translated into changing sounds in the jetty, transforming this into a recognizable and mysterious place. Moreover, the jetty was built reusing stones from a local abandoned cemetery, what drives the memory of the place.

“The Wave Organ is located on a jetty that forms the small Boat Harbor in the Marina district of San Francisco. The jetty itself was constructed with material taken from a demolished cemetery, providing a wonderful assortment of carved granite and marble, which was used in the construction of this piece. The installation includes 25 organ pipes made of PVC and concrete located at various elevations within the site, allowing for the rise and fall of the tides. Sound is created by the impact of waves against the pipe ends and the subsequent movement of the water in and out of the pipes. The sound heard at the site is subtle, requiring visitors to become sensitized to its music, and at the same time to the music of the environment.”

“The concept was developed by Peter Richards and was installed in collaboration with sculptor and master stone mason George Gonzales. Inspiration for the piece came from artist Bill Fontana’s recordings made of sounds emanating from a vent pipe of a floating concrete dock in Sydney, Australia.”

“In 1980, Richards (a Senior Artist at the Exploratorium for many years) received a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that enabled him to conduct an extensive period of investigation into the physicality of the Wave Organ phenomenon.”

“A prototype, built at the same location, was presented as part of the New Music ’81 Festival. Though very rudimentary in nature, it generated enthusiasm and support for a permanent work. Permit acquisition and fundraising efforts by Frank Oppenheimer, Founding Director of the Exploratorium, began soon after, but actual construction did not start until September 1985, seven months after Oppenheimer’s death. The Wave Organ was completed in May 1986.”

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Images: Listen to the world

Images: Dimart

La entrada The Wave Organ | A wave-activated acoustic jetty | San Francisco se publicó primero en More Than Green.

It is a reality, this project that already we promoted from this blog a few years ago, and has become the first public infrastructure project financed by collective funding, becoming the beginning of crowdfunding urbanism.

The idea arose in parallel to the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) under the name I make Rotterdam, and soon generated a great expectation.

The initiative was proposed in 2011 by ZUS team provided unite three parts of Rotterdam, before disconnected due to be separated by railway tracks.

In the dissemination strategy of the project, in addition to the bright yellow color used iconically, highlights that included the ability to customize a portion of the bridge inscribing the name of each donor an amount exceeding 25 €. A customization that characterizes the new road and also gives it a symbolic collective belonging.

This urban strategy has been accompanied by the reuse of outbuildings to this new route. Have therefore been established around new housing, shops and an urban garden, which have helped revitalize the area.

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Images: Deezen

La entrada Luchtsingel pedestrian bridge | Crowdfunding urbanism | Rotterdam se publicó primero en More Than Green.

The Water Mirror offers a meeting place in town to play and cool off, and establishes an intelligent relationship with its historical context.

Water Mirror is a rectangular water surface designed by French architect Michel Corajoud and located in a very particular point of Bordeaux (France) since 2009. This pool of 3,450 square meters of water is strategically situated between the Garonne River and the Place de la Bourse, in a way that it fully reflects the characteristic façades of the 18th century buildings that are located in it. Thus, the emergence of this new urban element generates an interesting visual game between the historic buildings, the square, the river and the new water surface.

Moreover, the mirror effect of the thin film of water can be suddenly interrupted by the appearance of an artificial fog that exceeds two meters. Thus, the combination of liquid and vaporized water offers refreshment to the citizens on the hottest days. Thanks to these social qualities, the Mirror of Water has become a major attraction for entertainment, play and rest, especially during the summer.

“A series of in situ coincidences led us to create a new urban equipment, which is fresh and playful and doesn’t fight (oppose) the Bourse building, but displays a polite attitude in relation with it.”

“This global device: square, water and mist, magnifies the heritage of this part of the docks, and it quickly became […] a place to practice games, a place of entertainment, refreshment, an attraction point. This unexpected event has become an urban phenomenon that goes far beyond our expectations.”

“The elegant historic French idea of the central reflecting pool has been made participatory. The water mirror both forces people backwards to observe the reflection and then bring them together in the play of splashing water and hide-and-go-seek fog.”

(via aesthetic grounds)

(images via landezine)

La entrada Water Mirror | A place to cool off in Bourdeaux se publicó primero en More Than Green.

The Active Pool is one of the four main spaces at the Fort Worth Water Gardens (Texas, USA), an urban oasis designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee in 1974. The waterfall, which is eleven meters high and shaped by a terraced geometry, surrounds a small central pool to which all the water is poured.

The particular design of this fountain invites visitors to descend to its very center, offering them a unique walk in which water is the protagonist. Thus, this urban element provides more than refreshment and relief from the hot weather of Fort Worth, enabling the user to experience firsthand the power, strength and movement of an everyday element: water.

“It’s the sound that captures most people’s attention: the roar of 10,500 gallons [40,000 litres] of water per minute hurtling down the four-story sides”.

“And then there’s the spectacle of the water cascading down the concrete terraces and splashing past the steps that lead visitors down to a pentagon of large blocks at the bottom of the sunken waterfall. Here, in the center of it all, the cacophony of the falls muffles conversation, leaving visitors to stop for a moment to soak in the scene”.

“The Active Water Pool is the centerpiece of the 4.3-acre [1.7-ha] Water Gardens, an open-air complex of waterfalls, pools, fountains, plazas, walkways, and trees located adjacent to the Fort Worth Convention Center. Famed architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed the Water Gardens, which have provided a meditative haven in the heart of Fort Worth since their opening in 1974. While not open to swimming, the Water Gardens are a popular destination for walks, picnics, and events on the plaza.”

(via Texas Highways)

(images via Eric Hunt)

(images via hyperallergic)

(images via Architecture in Fort Worth)

La entrada The Active Pool |A waterfall at the Fort Worth Water Gardens se publicó primero en More Than Green.

“A group of six young architects under the leadership of Renzo Piano have been hard at work transforming unused spaces within Italy’s suburban framework. The team, known as G124, focuses its efforts on injecting life back into overlooked and forgotten areas of its built environment and stimulating the local economy through design. This most recently entailed transforming a long abandoned area under a viaduct in northeast Rome into a bustling cultural hot-spot.

The project, aptly named “Under the Viaduct,” uses recycled materials to create an inviting community space. Shipping containers host the area’s organized events, providing multiple spaces for workshops for local residents to attend.”

Renzo Piano and this group of young people, after a long process of analysis abandon areas they have proposed in revitalizing this environment a series of cultural activities managed through a process of public participation. A project by and for the neighbors.

via plataformaurbana.cl

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La entrada Under the viaduct | Marginal urban environment’s revitalization | Renzo Piano and G124 se publicó primero en More Than Green.

After eight years of waiting and citizens’ demand, the elevated bike lane links the highway and the harbour bridge. Dissing and Weitling architects have reinvent a strategy usually built for cars as a new bike space. People in Copenhagen used to have complicated options to cross the river: go up and down stairs with their bikes or take long, tricky and narrow detours shared with pedestrians.

This new infrastructure, that is 4m wide and 200m long, has two main benefits: first, it makes easier to use the bike in Copenhagen and, second, it has diminished the bike presence in the lower level. Cyclers can cross this two way lane in less than a minute while enjoying beautiful views.

Copenhagen is an example regarding social awareness in relation to public transport. The importance that the bike has in this city encourages the continuous demand for improving the cycling infrastructure.  Copenhagen’s citizens have learnt to propose new ways of connecting different places of the city with bike lanes and detect the deficiencies that this infrastructure may have.

(source of the images: The Guardian.com; author of the images: Sandra Hoj)

(via The Guardian.com) 

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La entrada Cycle Snake | the new bike infrastructure | Copenhagen se publicó primero en More Than Green.

“A deep railway cutting which sliced through the urban fabric has been converted into a pedestrian and bicycle corridor in a resource-saving collaborative process that also respects the memory of an industrial past”.

Since 1894, a railway line had enabled traffic between the cargo port and the central station in Helsinki, including an open ravine (1.5 kilometres long and 7 metres deep) that bisected the urban fabric. However, in 2008 this infrastructure became obsolete due to the transfer of the port, and the future of the cutting was called into question.

“Covering the man-made canyon to make an underground tunnel would restore continuity to the urban layout, but this option is expensive and will take time. Meanwhile, another plan which has been in the pipeline since 2003 took the form of a process involving residents, university students and a range of municipal departments. It was about temporarily converting the railway into a space for cyclists and pedestrians”.

The track, named “Baana” (“rail” in colloquial Finnish) after a popular competition, was open in 2012. The place was prepared for bicycle and pedestrian traffic through a very modest intervention, incorporating some landscaped areas and leisure facilities including a basketball court, petanque pitches and table tennis. To keep the essence of the original rail landscape, the dimensions of the space, as well as its main elements and materials, were respected. On the other hand, new side accesses would be opened to enhance the permeability of the corridor.

“The somewhat gloomy ruggedness of the cutting contrasts with the new sports and artistic installations in colours as bright as those of the goods containers that used to move along the track”.

“The already-existing wild plants have now been supplemented with flowering creepers, several varieties of tall grass, and different types of bushes with perennial foliage to give an individual touch to each section of the cutting”.

“The option of this austere, versatile and resistant project of recycling the railway track has been so enthusiastically received by very different kinds of users that the authorities are now considering widening the bicycle tracks and even introducing a network of similar Baana routes throughout the city. Fruit of a complex process of cooperative endeavour involving the administration, academics and residents, this example of temporary urban planning safeguards industrial memory, saves resources for the future, and also establishes a non-commercial shared space. Given the success of this exercise in balancing costs and benefits it would seem that the eventual project of covering of the cutting can wait”.

(via publicspace.org)

La entrada Baana | Reuse of an old railway pass | Helsinki se publicó primero en More Than Green.

[Article originally written by Pilar Ferreres and José Luis Gisbert for More Than Green]

__Architects: Pilar Ferreres + José Luis Gisbert

__Collaborators: Xavier Pepiol, architect + Álvaro Hueso, architecture student

__Location: Valencia, España

__Date project: 2015

Traffic crossing or square? We have asked this question to neighbors, merchants, professionals and pedestrians in the quarter of Pla del Remei in Valencia. It is a question that arises from the Alternative Proposal or Improvement (PAM), submitted to City Hall to review the municipal project involving the change of two streets in the city center. Moreover this plan suggests an even more important question: Is this a city for cars or a city for people?

The streets Hernán Cortés and Pizarro, part of the commercial city center that attracts many visitors throughout the year, have not changed in over 30 years. These streets pose numerous obstacles to pedestrian: narrow and uneven sidewalks, clutter from dining tables to parked motorbikes, and non-stop traffic. Cars are even seen driving on the curb to avoid hinder the lane. This chaotic traffic affects the pedestrians walking in a group who frequently have no other choice but to walk in a single file line, sometimes even on the street to dodge the vehicles that park on the sidewalk. Furthermore a pedestrian’s pace is broken up by having to patiently wait to pass through the number of traffic lights.

When the Valencia town hall announced upcoming renovations in April 2014, from the perspective of residents and architects, we were thrilled to take on an active role in the project design for a highly anticipated upgrade.

We have found, however, that the project that does not respond to nor reflect the real needs of this community because they have not been analyzed beyond the traffic logistics, and the essential information that can only be given by the community has been ignored. A project that does not account for a lack of space in the neighborhood and ignores the existing architectural heritage, makes it difficult for residents and tourists alike to admire the area to its true potential. Likewise the municipal action seems to disregard and even contradict all current urban mobility policies to accommodate for the additional space needed cyclists and pedestrians. In so doing the council is also ignoring the benefits of trees in an urban environment that contributes to better air quality and appropriate hygrothermal control. This planned redevelopment, an expenditure of 800,000 euro per street, would influence the way of life for the next 25 years and does not meet social and cultural needs of our community.

It appears as though the town hall of Valencia is taking on the renovation street by street without proper coordination. It is not possible to address road and spatial arrangement of a neighborhood without studying the full scope because there are problems that can only be resolved from a global approach.

Upon receiving the town hall’s initial plan in January of 2015, we offered an alternative proposition, known as Propuesta Alternativa de Mejora (PAM), to open up the dialogue and improve upon the solution. This alternative plan was submitted free of charge as we are fully invested in living and working in the area.

The PAM is a response to the plan that was originally approved by the town hall. Written by architects, we offer a solution that promotes a healthier environment and the development of relationships. The town hall’s plan of widening sidewalks does not take into account the number of needed trees that line the streets- one for every thirty meters. A tree is not merely an ornament. It provides shade to the pedestrian, filters the air and offers protection from the wind. Trees serve a purpose and should be enough in number.

For example, a square in Pizarro street (20 meters in width), would slow down traffic and would convert a crossway to an agreeable square.

Multipurpose zones, called beaches in our proposal, would eliminate parking and decrease the number of vehicles going through. It would also reduce all types of pollution and danger. These beaches are the structure of an urban landscape that changes according to the time of day and season. Flexible zones would accommodate how different people use the area, from unloading cargo from a truck, to parking a bike, to taking a rest on a bench. This multipurpose zone would accommodate everyone without further construction needed. The implication results in less money to be spent. Our alternative proposal permits people to meet their needs with the opportunity of enjoying the space in their free time. Why not use a space to encourage to building relationships within a community?

The vision of PAM provides the town hall and the citizens with an economic solution that does not increase expenditure. PAM aims to increase the quality of urban life which would serve as a model to other parts of the city and can be extrapolated to other cities’ grid.

Between the 50s and 70s centers of cities turned in favour of the parked car or in circulation. The progressive increase in the number of vehicles in this limited space led to the deterioration of the urban landscape and quality of life of its inhabitants.

During the last decades, most cities have reversed this process in the inner city. They have realized that rescuing space for people was the only way to claim the status of this area of the city. However, economic and social changes not always match physical site transformations, inhabitants and users are the first ones in perceiving and detecting the existing problems.

The urban update has been carried out traditionally through its redevelopment, its considerable cost and lack of will taking unpopular decisions for cars, has led in some cases this process didn’t arrive.

But there are other ways, temporary changes that allow a more guarantees in final redevelopment: Zero Investment actions, as Rome from 20 years ago cut traffic on one of their most commercial streets (via del Corso) from Friday afternoon until Sunday allowing people to walk without restrictions and nowdays has been extended fulltime. Public space for people rescue actions through painting and moving parts, re-imagining as it may be the common space in the city and try it temporarily together with its inhabitants with limited spending before making works is the lesson that we can learn from the New York experience.

Valencia has embraced in recent years various European projects of sustainable development such as SMILE (intelligent solutions and energy efficiency in urban logistics in Mediterranean cities) or CAT-MED, was named European city of the tree in 2007, and that just a week ago was home to the main European platform aimed at reducing emissions of GHG in the cities.

Participate in these projects should lead to the city Council of Valencia, in each step or decision no matter how small it is on the city, to follow the criteria of sustainability, good governance and allocate their economic and human resources to improve the lives of all people. It is not worth to join a swimming club and don’t accept be equipped with bathing suit and jump into the water keeping dry out the pool.

Something doesn’t work properly when the Council refers in its reply to the PAM, in March 2015, to technical problems for planting trees or designing streets 30, without justifying them technically and chooses to arrange, on the other hand, in a parallel street absorbent paving of the contamination with European funds. Is it this proper answer of a smart city? Wouldn’t it be wiser to limit cars and planting trees? Can there be smart cities without smart designed streets? In Valencia with our strong sun, is it a smart street one that lacks of tree shade in summer? What is the suitable, sustainable mobility, in 12 meters wide streets of the city center? Car parking?

The authors invite the Council to ask himself these questions and return to pause the process action for reviewing and incorporating the improvements identified in the PAM, adding signatures of people who have joined this this request and also delivering the results of the open meeting with neighbors, merchants, workers and walkers held last March 5.
People who have joined this initiative rely on City Hall to consider the requested enhancements that we enjoy all and especially future generations.

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La entrada Traffic crossing or square? | PAM project, alternative proposal for the renewal of Valencia’s downtown se publicó primero en More Than Green.

After multiple impairments with the release of the documentary that put the bank Santander, former owner of the property, the documentary recorded in 2007 when they started the rehabilitation of this landmark building, came to light last year.

In it, the director Victor Moreno sought to capture the fall or rebuilding what had been a symbol of the Franco regime, but the cessation of work due to the economic crisis turns into a viewer of the financial and economic paralysis of the country during these years.

“The inauguration of the renovated building was expected to take place at the end of 2010 and I was inclined to not stop shooting the building works until that time arrived. Once the inside of the building was stripped down to its bare structure, though, the project was temporarily suspended. All of a sudden, I felt that I hadn’t simply filmed the disappearance of one given place. Unknowingly, I had managed to somehow capture a reflection of the financial situation of the country. I realised that immense building was a monumental metaphor for Spain and for a unique period of our recent social and economic history.

The routine work of all the construction workers that I had met during that time was interrupted; some of the immigrants returned to their home countries, others remained in Madrid looking for further employment. As for the Spanish workers, most of them had to claim unemployment benefits. In the mean time, a building that had been an emblem of the city as well as a symbol for prosperity had been reduced to a mere skeleton, its memory diluted behind the walls of the great facade. In short, it had become an immense empty space which the uncertainty of the times were not going to be able to cover up.

Despite all that, I have not given my original plan up. I am reluctant, maybe at a subconscious level, to cut all links with the building. I have not yet lost hope that maybe, when I least expect it, building works will resume and both projects, the film and the building, will be able to continue their course.”

The film was nominated in 8 categories for the Goya Awards, being nominated for best documentary film.

La entrada Building Spain (The Building) | A documentary reflection of the financial and economic paralysis of a country | Victor Moreno se publicó primero en More Than Green.