IBERIA TOTAL 1.0 Architecture & Tourism for the ACTAL Undergraduate Thesis Project Undergraduate Degree in Architecture IE University 2013
PFG Professors Pablo Oriol Fernando Rodríguez Lina Toro Technical Practices Manuel Pérez Romero Rafael Iñiguez de Onzoño Workshop Instructors Linna Choi Tarik Oualalou Laura Martínez de Guereñu José María García del Monte Design Critics Izaskun Chinchilla Juan Elvira Mónica García Pedro Iglesias Andrew Varela Director David Goodman
Tourism, again Are we facing a return to the economic model of “sun and beach”? Are we prepared to re-think a productive model, already successful in past decades, to adapt it to a ecologically and culturally sensitive context? According to the current economic difficulties and analyzing the benefits of Tourism in Spain, we think not only this condition is necessary to consolidate the country as the first European tourist destination, but geographically restructured to achieve a more diverse offer, ensuring a greater international projection. The architectural thought and research have been absent from the shaping-processes of the economic landscapes related to tourism models. It is now time to use architecture to propose an update of the operating strategies for the exploitation of cultural and natural resources, seeking an economic and ecological balance that will allow achieving a high sustainable growth. We will explore other landscapes and territories to propose diversity. We will define a more consistent and extensive network, one in order to create new models for progress in some forgotten environments, absolutely susceptible to have a second chance. Our actions and architectural proposals will be narrated through a new lexical where words like diversity, sustainability or energy, will match concepts such as profitability, economy, benefit, autonomy, identity, without forgetting other known languages as the exchange, the event, the time offer, heritage, human and natural landscape. The presented projects make strong emphasis in the combination ‘tourist-resident’, extending the range of
the tourism in daily life and vice versa. We are putting forward a kind of investment that doesn’t become the environment in a mere appeal of consumption. The proposals look for a great capacity of transformation in aesthetic, social, cultural terms and in the economy of the villages. We attempt to build identity environments with high capacity of transformation, capable of coexisting with the natural landscape, architectural and existing urban conditions. Framework The starting point of the final project research is Iberia Total: the Iberian Peninsula understood as a strong touristic destination, the theoretical frame or support where the specific proposal (the architecture project) takes place. It seems important to implement a geographic and territorial reorganization for the Iberian Peninsula to become a global touristic destination, targeted not only to those tourists interested in the “sun and beach” offer, but also appealing to what Asian and American tourists demand. Visitors are not only attracted by sun and beach holidays, but also by the vast variety of holidays tailored to the interests of each visitor. In recent years, Spain has been confronted with the challenge of sustainable and diversified growth. The objective of such challenge is to complement the sun and sea supply with new forms of tourism, in order to create a new demand for quality that moreover contributes to increase the tourist expenditure. Thus, we propose to redefine that touristic map to transform the whole peninsula as a complete and complex tourist network. We propose a specific frame within Iberia Total that comprises the northern segment of the Ruta de la Plata, which originally runs from Gijón to Seville. We will then focus on the AP66 Higway area, between León and the coast of Asturias. This new territory of opportunities hosts a number of existing and abandoned coalfields along some valleys: the Valle del Nalón and the Valle del Caudal. Some other incredible geographical locations such as “Los Barrios de la Luna” reservoir or the “Picos de Europa” National Park and natural reserve, are there, and of course, several interesting cities as León, Oviedo, Gijon and Aviles; besides, it features a strong connection with the airport and seaport of Aviles and Gijón. This region, which we call ACTAL (Área de Centralidad Turística Astur Leonesa), will be a laboratory to explore tourism options, as it is strongly linked to a landscape of great industrial potential, and also to the main road infrastructure system of the Iberian Peninsula. The great potential of ACTAL, as we have known through rigorous research, is embodied in the wide range of projects presented in this book: new production landscapes, intensification of urban cultural programs, activation of natural spots, colonization of the mining heritage These proposals, unlike other programs and architectures already known, allow us to imagine a future scenario in which a different tourism is possible, thanks to the thoughtful and measured action of the architect. Fernando Rodríguez, Pablo Oriol y Lina Toro Professors of Undergraduate Thesis Project Unit
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“Work, Folk, Place” is a reaction to the current social situation in the rural Asturias, desolated since the mining industry began its decadence. A cooperative berry farm is placed next to the river, at the feet of the Nalon valley. How can we work with landscape so that we can achieve efficiency in a productive process? Are economy and ecology necessarily two opposed terms? This is a proposal for a humanized, hands-on kind of industry, one that does not lose contact with nature along the process. From the moment of the harvest at the hillsides, to the cooking down at the processing core, to actually tasting the fruits and jellies over the river…
1.TOURISM: CASE STUDY My first approach to the Final Degree Project consisted in an analysis on the subject of tourism. Using the town of Seaside, in Florida (U.S.A) as a case study, and teamed with two more students, I tried to tackle the issue of identity. What are the parameters that define the identity of a place? And what are the limits of identity? In other words, can we speak of a geographic perimeter further of which the “magic” disappears? Seaside was a perfect example of what we were trying to define. Developed in the 1980s under the premises of New Urbanism, it has become a sort of “bubble of happiness”. Tourists come to Seaside to live a temporary experience, based on a fantasy of other times. We can say that the town is an anachronism that expresses nostalgia for a past time that never really existed. Seaside’s website states it very clearly: “You feel you are in a perfect town with wholesome people”. We were determined to find the perimeter of this bubble, the moment when Truman finds the door that leads to the real world in “The Truman Show”.
SEASIDE, FL
A PERFECT LIFE
Precedents.
BRASILIA.1:750000
We started by studying some precedents, using cities or areas with very strong identities. Las Vegas served as a case where the strong identity has stayed around the Strip, while the rest of the city has sprawled independently. Seaside, however, was able to extend its identity as it grew, around a series of new landmarks.
VEGAS.1:750000
Brasilia started growing in the form of smaller nodes, until the point where the city center absorbed the settlements around it and became a mass, although the identity remained intact in the oldest part. Seaside, on the contrary, was able to include the ďŹ rst extension into this fantastic anachronism. However, the most recent settlements around it are not (yet?) part of it.
Natural borders. We proceeded to map: -Visual barriers. -Connections to the lake. -The shore. -Other territorial factors that reinforce the utopian feeling, like the mass of forest around the town. All this deďŹ nes the ďŹ rst belt. We extract the area that falls out of the limit and continue our mapping.
NATURAL BORDERS
Circulation system. The circulation at Seaside is determined by three types of roads. In hierarchical order: -Main roads: For car circulation. -Secondary roads: For pedestrians. -Alleys: Semi-private, for parking and garbage disposal. Seaside maintained the road hierarchy system in its ďŹ rst extension, but not in later sprawl. We decide to consider only the areas that follow the original urban rules.
Landmarks and visual barriers. The landmarks are placed according to a very rigid set of rules that are the paradigm of New Urbanism. They clearly deďŹ ne the borders of the town and at the same time frame views over the landscape, other landmarks, and most of all, the sea Other visual limits are masses of trees. Landmarks and woods work together to create this scenery that provides visual enclosure and reference points.
Centralities. We can clearly deďŹ ne thrree urban nucleous in Seaside. The original is the closest to the beach, while the other two respond to later developments. They are only connected to the old part of Seaside through a main road. Besides, visual and topographic limits (the lake and forest) stand in the middle, avoiding any contact. For this reasons we do not consider the newest centralities to be part of the Seaside anachronism.
URBAN NUCLEUS
2. TERRITORY: HANDS ON ASTURIAS We cannot put into words which is the identity of Asturias without taking a look back to the history of this region and their people. Since 1767 minery has been the economic motor of this region, forging theirs people character, always combative and non-conformist. This rough identity has a stong relation with the labor they practice.
Mapping of industrial archaeology.
vertical landmark
container
industrial complex
bridge
Mapping of industrial archaeology.
Asturian landscape is very marked by the presence of industrial ruins, they have shaped the landscape of this region and have a very iconic presence. This landmarks have a direct relation with the previously mentioned asturian identity, the steel mixed with vivid colors reect the character of this rough labor workers that never back down.
Mapping of industrial archaeology.
FE ER RRNA NAN ANDEL A N ELA LA A YC CA AND A NDE D L DEL LA ANDO O
Cia単o
Samu単o
Samu単o-La Nueva
La Nueva
El Pumar坦n
Langreo o El Entrego
Sotorrondio
La Fresnosa
Collado
La Cruz
Carrio
A TRIP TO THE IRON MEMORIES
Political ambition.
We have always been attracted by social issues and nowadays, with the withdrawal of the minery subsidy, there are lots of villages at stake in this area. We focused our investigation on small villages which main focus of activity is minery and which people are starting to disappear just as this practice vanish from their lands. To save this people we ďŹ rst proposed a ring that goes from Langreo to Sotorrondio connecting all these small villages into a touristic cycle that will create work and economic sustain to this area. To attain this goal we decided to explode the uses of the city and spread them evenly among the villages so that all joined together cover all the need a person may have.
Political ambition.
This productive tourism is based on a cycle that goes from 3 months to a year, inspired by Tuscany or Provenza. We want every village to have tourists, and for this sake, everyone of them is going to be provided with speciďŹ c program that can create economy. The programs are not meant to satisfy just the area but to cover , in combination with the other, all the basic needs that these people would have within a maximum 30 km range.
Practical approach.
Oviedo
Langreo
La Cruz
This project is a reaction to the current political situation caused by the rural exodus that comes from the closing of the mining companies around Langreo. The objective is to revitalize this areas and save this villages from disappering. To attain our goal we are starting by throwing our architectural stone into one of this villages, called La Cruz and waiting for a ripple effect on the surrounding ones.
Practical approach.
1.
YES!
The objective is going to be archieved through 3 points. 1.-Create economic sustain through a berries cooperative, that takes advantage of the weather, the few competition in spain and the mass exportation possibility.
2.
FREE!
2.-Provide with free accomodation in exchange for the work. 3.-Use the current economic situation to attract people who dont want to waste money in housing and dont mind to work part day. (Writing thesis, paintors, musicians, architects, informatics...)
3.
9 a.m
5 p.m
Housing Working
Practical approach.
The Cooperative Berry Farm works as a transformer of the urbanite into the rural worker. People will come from different cities and change their hectic lives in favor of the slow life movement. The Berry Farm is the environment that allows this transformation to happen. After a year in the cooperative, the individual will go back to the city feeling like a new man.
La Cruz is a village of 25 inhabitants near an afuent of river Nalon. Candela has developed the working area of the berry cooperative at the core of the village, while I place the housing area around 500 metres away, in a clearing in the woods. Both settings are connected by a ground pathway.
3. WORK, FOLK, PLACE. My project began as a reection on the possibilities of the valley, on topography as a way to relate economy and ecology.
Cranberries
Raspberries
TERRACES
GREENHOUSES
Strawberries
Blueberries
CROSS-SLOPE
Redcurrant
The starting point for the berry farm was studying the different methods of berry cultivation, and I found it can be done in 3 ways, depending on the fruit: cranberries need at land, raspberries and strawberries are better grown in greenhouses, while blackberries and redcurrant need cross-slope cultivation.
This gives me the opportunity, when it comes to organizing the different parts of this programme in the landscape, to explore the idea of the valley section. Patrick Geddes studied life from the mountains to the water about a century ago, and proposed an ordering system for habitats based on the idea that each activity of men is related to a part of the valley. The diagram was later re-visited by the Team X. Thisis is the geddesian section I am proposing for the Nalon valley.
TERRACES
2013. Berry Farm at the Nalon Valley.
CHIMNEYS
GREENHOUSES
SLOPED
1917. Patrick Geddes, Valley section from the mountains to the sea.
1917. Patrick Geddes, Valley section vs. Valley Plan
1954. Peter Smithson at the Doorn Manifesto
1
2
3
S01_TERRACES The valley is shaped as terraces in its left slope, so that cranberry crops (which are ideally cultivated in flat land) can be grown. S02_PROCESSING CORE The heart of the project. The fruits harvested in the slopes reach this
HIG
HW AY
area so that they can be stored, washed, cooked and finally turned into jelly. S03_CONNECTIONS Any process needs to be as fluent as possible. Steel truss bridges connect the terraces with the processing core, and the latter with the greenhouses.
RIV
ER
S04_HANGING ELEMENTS The lowest point of the valley. Light timber pieces hang over the river to offer areas for tasting, relaxing and watching the views. S05_GREENHOUSE Raspberries and strawberries are 4
5
6
best grown in greenhouses. They also hold the workers rest area, the laboratory and an ofďŹ ce.
S06_CROSS-SLOPE CROPS The right slope of the valley is occupied by blackberry and redcurrant crops, which need inclined land so that the water slips down immediately.
This section responds to the need of efďŹ ciency as related to topography. In the berry farm the fruit moves downwards in the valley throughout the whole process, from the moment of the harvest at the hillsides, to the cooking at the processing core next to the river, to actually tasting the fruits and jellies over the river.
Diagram that depicts the movement of the fruit down the valley.
The result is this sort of artiďŹ cial landscape, in which the circulation of people is just as imporrtant as the circulation of berries. The display takes advantage of: 1) The existing infrastructure. That is, the highway. It is widened and re-paved, incorporating areas for loading and unloading operations. 2) Tthe natural resources. A small pier is built into the edge of the river, so that the manufactued products can also be distributed by water.
There are 3 greenhouses connected to the main strip. Some parts of the programme are separated from the strip and introduced in the greenhouses, among the rasberries and strawberries: workers rest areas, laboratories and administration.
There are 3 greenhouses connected to the main strip. Some parts of the programme are separated from the strip and introduced in the greenhouses, among the rasberries and strawberries: workers rest areas, laboratories and administration..
Now that I have sorted my productive section, let me focus on the processing core. Here I introduce a second concept: the harth, as a focus of activity, labour and gathering.
Each step of the production of jelly will take place under a special kind of chimney:
S
SO
L
SM
L
S
SO
S
-There are obviously SMOKE chimneys, for the kitchen, cooking the jelly and canning. -But there are also LIGHT chimneys, for washing and meeting -The SOUND chimneys hold gardens that provide spices for the kitchen and lemons for the ďŹ nal states of the elaboration of jelly. -The SMELL chimney is where the fruits from the harvest are stored.
Smoke chimneys Light chimneys
Sound chimneys Smell chimneys
to the terraces
having a break!
having a break!
canning the jelly
cooking to get jelly
meeting and discussing
storing the berries
washing the berries
cooking for the restaurant
to the labs to the restaurant
The steps that have a direct sequence will be connected by a series of elevated platforms, with an access to the bridges that connect to the rest of the programme in the valley.
Smoke chimney
Sound chimney
Light chimney
Smell chimney
[KITCHEN]
[SPICE GARDEN]
[WASHING]
[TASTING]
Light ch
[CONFEREN
himney
NCE ROOM]
Smoke chimney
Sound chimney
Smoke chimney
[COOKING FRUITS]
[LEMON TREE GARDEN]
[CANNING
The chimneys are light structures that hold all these activities underneath, and which never touch the ground. They hang from a tensegrity ceiling, made of compression and tension members, rods and cables.
Smoke chimney
Sound chimney
Light chimney
Smell chimney
[KITCHEN]
[SPICE GARDEN]
[WASHING]
[TASTING]
Light ch
[CONFEREN
There are two worlds in this jelly factory: ground and air. The earth is “shaped”, sometimes literally dug (as in the sound chimneys), others in the form of concrete platforms that raise the activity to a level above. Every kind of chimney has a shape that relates to what is happening underneath, with openings that ventilate or that let light in. There are also different interior coverings: for instance fish-like scales for the tasting area (that also holds the smell from the berries stored inside), or hexagonal mirrors for the light chimneys, that reflect on a layer of water.
himney
NCE ROOM]
Smoke chimney
Sound chimney
Smoke chimney
[COOKING FRUITS]
[LEMON TREE GARDEN]
[CANNING
This is a plan of the roof structure. The tensegrity ceiling rests on a series of frames that deďŹ ne the area of each chimney.
FRAME 06
FRAME 05
FRAME 04
FRAME 03
FRAME 02
FRAME 01
Smoke chimney
Sound chimney
Light chimney
Smell chimney
[KITCHEN]
[SPICE GARDEN]
[WASHING]
[TASTING]
[C
Smoke chimney
Sound chimney
Smoke chimney
CONFERENCE ROOM]
[COOKING FRUITS]
[LEMON TREE GARDEN]
[CANNING
FRAME 12
FRAME 11
FRAME 10
FRAME 09
FRAME 08
FRAME 07
Light chimney
Sound chimney [spice garden] Smoke chimney [kitchen]
Smell chimney [tasting]
Light chimney [washing]
Light chimney [conference room]
Interior view of the processing core. Two worlds: air (chimneys) and ground (concrete)
It all becomes a sort of artiďŹ cial landscape that offers spaces of labour, but also places of relax where one can enjoy this particular relationship with nature. This chimney in particular is the sound chimney. Its shape is meant to amplify the tapping sound of the rain for the person that stands underneath, and also to collect water for the garden below.
DETAIL 1
DETAIL 2
01
STEEL FOLDED PLATE
07
STEEL FOLDED PLATE
02
CONCRETE
08
ROLL FOR TEXTILE
03
STEEL PLATE
09
ZINC FOLDED PLATE
04
NEOPRENE LAYER
10
STEEL RING
05
STEEL BEAMS
11
STRUCTURAL SQUARE TUBE
06
TIMBER FLOORING
200X200X400
01 03 02
05 04
12
PERIMETRAL RING
13
STEEL HINGE
14
TENSEGRITY CABLE
DETAIL 3
DETAIL 4
DETAIL 5
15
STEEL RING. SECONDARY STRUCTURE
23
GLASS
30
STEEL TRUSS
16
STEEL RIB. MAIN STRUCTURE
24
HEB 300
31
STEEL BEAMS
17
STEEL PLATE
25
TEXTILE PARASOL
32
NEOPRENE LAYER
18
ZINC PLATE
26
STONE PAVEMENT
33
STRUCTURAL SQUARE TUBE
19
POLICARBONATE
27
COMPRESSED SAND
20
STEEL CLADDING
28
CONCRETE
21
TENSEGRITY TUBE
22
STEEL PLATE
300X300X14 34
HEB 300
The chimneys have a main structure made of metal ribs and a substructure of rings. The exterior cladding is made of steel plates. The whole place has an envelope made of a glass faรงade and a textile that can be rolled up or down for sun protection purposes.
To end, I’d like to highlight that the hearth has connotations of belonging and sharing (better expressed by the Spanish word "arraigo"), which may be something positive against the very pessimistic state of rural Asturias.