I've been thinking about this project all week, since flipping through the Urban Space + Landscape issue of DETAIL over tea at work. The most striking part initially is the unprotected openings to the irrigation canals - it's hard not to look and think, they were allowed to do that?
Once the health and safety reflex eases off, next comes a slow examination of every bit of the project shown. I love the angles of the cuts in the pavement, which remind me of the geometry in the paths of Jardi Botanic by Carlos Ferrater, in Barcelona. I love the margins of canal along the sides of the streets. I love the slim profile of the guard rails. I love the benches curling low on the pavement. And most of all, I love the paving.
It's travertine, which is local but seems incredibly extravagant over such a huge area. The colour and texture make it hard to place in age, and the paving pattern is this genius thing that looks like it's evolved over the life of the town, without seeming ersatz.
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MiAS is Josep Miàs and a long list of collaborators, based in Barcelona. I'm poking around the website wishing I had dug into it when I was involved in planning an architecture itinerary (map) in Barcelona last year. An intriguing project is the market in Barceloneta, with the text about the context reminding me to some extent of what my friend Miriam said about Barceloneta when I met her for a walk one evening while I was in town.
Also interesting is this:
Ever since I started, since my very first projects, I have translated drawing into wire. I believe our architecture describes precisely that which makes it possible, and tries to make visible those essential lines, necessary to its comprehension. I am not so interested in the structural purpose of these lines as I am in the role they have in the conception of the project. It is these lines that are responsible for verifying the potential of any drawing, its necessity.
Model images here. It's quite lovely, skeletons and paper lanterns, delicate and free three-dimensional sketches. I'm used to feeling excited about the clean, planar cards models that represent planar architecture, but there's curves in this that are quite persuasive to me, even aside from the projects represented.
ALL IMAGES FROM MiAS ARQUITECTES
