Plaza en el Besòs

Public Square in Barcelona.

The project eliminates a street that used to cross right in front of the housing block adjacent to the square. With this first decision, all the public space became connected to the building’s facade, working as its basement. The relationship of the square with the vestibules of the houses is now very direct, in continuity, as an extension of these vestibules and the bars, which locate its terraces and tables near the playgrounds.
In order to reinforce this open air vestibule, a large pergola for flowers follows the profile of the building at a certain distance. It acts as an echo, sometimes gets closer and sometimes further...
In between the pergola and the building a new space now appears, like a chamber of air that absorbs the abrupt change of scale between the vertical plane of the huge building and the long horizon extended in front of it.

Inside this open air vestibule there’s a kiosk, which because of its colours and shape attracts all eyes...Its stripped costume reveals its content: ice creams and lollypops, concentrating most of the energy of this place.

Further on from the pergola, a red crossing path works as a shortcut, connecting the sports fields nearby with the bridge that crosses above the Gran Via Avenue.