2303 - Parc dels Plataners

Architecture and Art

In an environment shaped by industrial scale and the persistence of water flow, we approach the project from an initial gesture: two lines crossed by hand on paper to indicate where the rest areas and bridges will be placed. This regulating stroke establishes the essential geometry that organizes the narrative and acts as a safeguard against the arbitrary. In the same way that a tree is felled and stacked, we break down the key points of the landscape to build a space where geometric reason and nature find common ground once again.

On the outskirts of Santa Perpètua lies a fragment of territory that persists within the seams. Flanked by the major infrastructures of the B-140 and the AP-7, the project is situated in an environment defined by the duality between productive dynamism and the serenity of the Riera Seca. It is a place of boundaries, where the urban fabric and industrial growth converge upon a riverbed that, facing the Bimbo factory, asserts its identity as a transition space and a vital lung for the community.

What is today a corridor marked by industry was, originally, an agricultural tapestry. Following the land transfer for manufacturing activity, the requirement emerged to preserve this great green void, a vital reserve in a highly anthropized area where the stream has often been hemmed in. This fluvial corridor is not only a biodiversity hub but also serves as a link between the natural heritage and the municipality’s green rings.

The intervention stems from a desire for repair and suture, viewing the project as a soft infrastructure that interconnects the urban core with areas of daily activity. The design is based on the creation of active mobility routes that facilitate movement. Far from imposing itself on the landscape, the architecture follows the sinuosity of the stream and respects the gaps between the trees, with the intention that the path disappears beneath the natural mantle, allowing the vegetation to be the true protagonist.

The layout organizes the space through a succession of nodes that act as meeting places at the points of highest traffic. The program unfolds organically, situating the rest areas at these singular points that punctuate the path defined by the initial stroke. The moment of maximum contemplation is achieved at the viewpoint, conceived as a large agora centered on the landscape, where the arrangement of the furniture invites a pause. These are spaces designed for the community that, nevertheless, maintain an atmosphere of quietude thanks to the protection provided by the shade of the plane trees.

The construction narrative relies on this essential geometry that organizes and places pavements, benches, and tables: concrete pieces that aspire to become stone. The original crossing of lines becomes the sign whose meaning evokes the image of fallen branches crossed by chance. On the bridges, it is the supporting structure itself that links both banks following this scheme, protected by railings of irregular verticality that mimic the rhythm of the reeds. All of this is completed with a colorimetric study that applies tones extracted from the environment itself to achieve absolute integration.

This project is, in essence, an exercise in respect for what exists and a commitment to architecture that knows how to keep silent. By uniting the agricultural past with the industrial present through a firm yet sensitive gesture, the intervention succeeds in blurring the line between the built and the natural. The success of the proposal lies in its ability to go unnoticed, allowing this regulating layout that was born from a manual crossing on paper to end up being the invisible support where the murmur of the stream and the verticality of the trees define the experience of those who walk through it.