urretxu-iriMo (eS

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IntErvIEW

of the Site’S repreSentative IñAKI MEndIzábAl, Municipal architect Ibon sAlAbErríA, participation proceSS coorDinator

presentation of the site within the context of the city development and in terms of strategy

this site is the municipality’s largest window of opportunity, combining a local perspective with a territorial vision. its strategic value is due to its contextual location in the municipality, the district and the rest of the region, and also its quality as a repository of industrial memories and identity for the community. We believe that irimo should be able to adapt to the real needs of both urretxu and – why not – of the broader territory as well. the irimo area contains many buildings that are not only unused but also seem to form an industrial desert on the edge of the town. this area’s current state, the outcome of the public participation process and the current socio-economic situation, all point to a strategy which should help to transform the area and be responsive to unforeseeable future needs and transformations.

How can the site be integrated in the issue of the adaptable city and how do you consider this issue?

the interpretation of the results of the on-going participatory process – which includes the winning europan proposal – is now generating urban planning initiatives and strategies based on existing resources and open proposals that do not preclude any future scenarios. the site encourages new ideas about the way that public spaces can accommodate not only some particular use (industrial, business, cultural, housing…) but indeed (almost) any function at different times and with minimal effort. With a view to “shaping the social city”, this approach opts for “chrono-urbanism”, which is able to stagger initiatives over time, using strategies that catalyse the urban character of this area.

At the time of sustainable development coupled to an economic crisis, have you already defined a specific strategy for the urban development of the site?

the proposed development is part of a citizen participation process that all sectors are invited to join: business and cultural stakeholders, neighbourhood associations, citizens, technicians, municipal council and the winners of the europan 12 competition for this site. the municipal properties in the project area could be used as the seed structures for a new social, economic and cultural production processes.

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avDa. Doctor feDerico rubio y galí 31, 3 a 28039 MaDriD, Spain t. +34 636802615 correoDecarloSSoria@ gMail.coM

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piztutako Irimo

team point of view our proposal’s success depends on the initial strategy. using a non-form initial approach, we were able to develop the project as a complex electronic object with no hierarchy between function and form. it is not an architecture of metaphor but of actions and ideas. We deal with a non-form architecture that can absorb additions, subtractions and modifications spontaneously and easily without changing its sense of order. the design will absorb uncertainty, variations of every kind and the inevitability of change. it is a non-symbolic, indeterminate, nonlinear, rhizomatic diagram. What we work with is an operative mechanism rather than a restrictive document.

jury point of view the authors propose an operation on both a general and a detailed scale. they use three strategies – “shade/perforate/invade” – that can be staggered over time. the project takes into account various usage options, and anticipates the changes that inevitably accompany the passage of time. alternative uses are suggested for the existing buildings, while the residential function, associated with potential agricultural uses, is relocated closer to the town centre. With a parallel operation that redefines the road levels, circulations and transversal elements, this project aims to convert irimo into a focal point for activities, an interface between urban and industrial areas.

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collage Section SarralDe

tempos of colonization

team point of view a city has many layers (palimpsest), which accumulate over time in an adaptable equation. one has to look very carefully to unravel the site’s opportunities. We overlaid the past (pre-existing) onto the present (existing) boundaries, so that future projections could be made. the project looks at the existing civic spine and extends it through a sequence of exterior, covered and interior voids, where activity branches off the vacant spaces. extending the civic spine connects four neighbourhoods. people from different backgrounds are brought together in activities at various scales. the historical legacy becomes collective social space, making accomplices of these versatile and adaptable zones that people have to appropriate to work and adapt to the needs of the moment. fixed structures allow changing activities.

jury point of view the internal connections suggest a sequence between exterior, covered and interior voids in which these voids are colonised by activities. the mobility system gives rise to this appropriation of the spaces, in kind of flooding process.

caMino De ronDa Street 101, torre atalaya, oficina b 18003 granaDa, Spain t. +34 958290521 / +34 615158080 info@juanMoya.coM WWW.juanMoya.coM

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reversibilidad ecolectiva

team point of view the strategy seeks to reverse the direction of the resources consumption-industrial production process by supra-reusing (upcycling) industrial infrastructures as technological resources with the potential to project a socio-economic process of environmental production and dissemination over the territory. industrial pollution now becomes the raw fuel for new “eco-social factories” which will restore the natural resources that had been taken before. boundaries and preconceived architectural labels are diluted, building a dormant infrastructural landscape with urban energy available for its use and the elasticity to absorb the timeframes and changes of social activity. collective initiatives will give specificity to the urban model through natural and artificial mechanisms of urban colonization, able to debug the landscape and thereby create favourable conditions for social cohesion at every locus on the space-time line.

jury point of view the project aims to commence small-scale urban transformation processes that will help reverse the negative effects of the industrial model. for this purpose, the authors propose furniture-like elements that encourage social activity and natural strategies to restore a healthier environment. Small-scale actions will achieve larger-scale results, in the manner of a social or natural colonization.

current heavy inDuStry anD potential eco-Social inDuStry in goierri. SiMulation of the urban colonization proceSS

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Encuentros en la tercera fase

team point of view the intervention is divided into 3 phases (short, mid and long term). phase 1 – conditioning of spaces and face washing. these are low-cost operations whose basic purpose is to reactivate the area. Most of these activities can be resolved in a community process. phase 2 – on a one-year timeframe, the linear park works will start, as they are essential to the overall improvement of the area in terms of traffic calming and making a pedestrian friendly space. three years after the process starts full renovation of the public buildings will begin, with the retention of self-managed activities. phase 3 – renovation of irimo warehouses to create 3 different spaces: a flexible mixed market and workshops on the ground floor; a communal working space on the first floor and a communal sky village on the former roof.

jury point of view the project is divided into three phases. the first landscape-oriented approach proposes moving vehicle traffic to the street at the rear of the site and turning the former roadway into a sort of landscaped pedestrian space. the project pays close attention to the pre-existing situation. the industrial pavilions are renovated and converted into housing. the proposed architecture is flexible and provides for the inclusion of public participation. in the third phase, the project proposes an office-business incubator in the irimo pavilion with dwellings on the roof.

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Everything anytime

team point of view the industrial heritage is exploited and maintained as far as possible through rehabilitation and adaptation. the project can be implemented in stages and uses can be inserted at any point in the temporary line, with subsequent modification and readaptation if necessary. an actuation that shifts constantly to satisfy the needs of residents and offer opportunities. a polluted area is converted to a square for recreational use, with systems to improve water and soil conditions (garden hollows and mounds and filtration lagoons). in designing the pavilions, we reuse the whole fabric with minimal intervention and maximum versatility. they have an engine core containing all the services and are sustainable. We create a promenade with vertical gardens as a noise barrier.

jury point of view one of the most remarkable aspects of the project is that it is based on a multi- disciplinary analysis of the area, which clearly shows the importance and the congruence of relating architecture to other fields of social analysis. the authors’ focus is on enhancing pedestrian movement, purifying polluted areas by converting them into recycling and public usage zones, converting the industrial facilities to socio-cultural uses, and exploring the feasibility of maximizing reuse of the existing infrastructure. the feature that defines the value of this project is the role and design of the architecture, above all for its restorative or healing potential.