TORRELAVEGA

SCALES — L/S – Urban / Architectural LOCATION — National Livestock Market POPULATION — City 52,819 inhab. STRATEGIC SITE — 35.94 ha / PROJECT SITE — 13.24 ha SITE PROPOSED BY — Government of Cantabria – Torrelavega City Council OWNER OF THE SITE — Municipal POST-COMPETITION PHASE — Building / urban project

Enrique Alonso Moreno — Head of Architecture, Ground Promotion and Building Quality. General Direction of Housing and Architecture. Government of Cantabria

1. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE SITE MUTATION? The proposed Torrelavega Cattle Fair site aims at reusing an underused area, part of the regional primary production sector, which now exceeds the industry’s current spatial requirements. This site is also a physical barrier for the City of Torrelavega, since its large size forces circulation over a large distance around the perimeter of the precinct. Therefore, two objectives are pursued: the reuse of a productive space for other productive uses, and the integration of the Fair precinct within the city, particularly with the adjacent Manuel Barquín Park and the surrounding residential areas.

2. HOW CAN THE SITE BE INTEGRATED IN THE ISSUES OF PRODUCTIVE CITIES? HOW DO YOU CONSIDER THE PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE? For Torrelavega, the reuse of this space involves the reactivation of a productive tradition that is in decline. Torrelavega is the most heavily industrialized city in Cantabria, covering a wide range of sectors, but it now requires revision and reindustrialization. The recovery of this space for new productive uses of different types will contribute to this aim.

3. HAVE YOU ALREADY DEFINED A SPECIFIC PROCESS FOR THE URBAN AND/OR ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AFTER EUROPAN? The action involving the architectural part of the competition is currently being defined. On the basis of the results, the idea is to begin with the Cattle Fair building and then continue to work on the direct surroundings. In the first stage, the aim is to generate the building that separates the large space and provide with the necessary infrastructure for the various activities that will occupy the transformed spaces.

Vacant Space

AUTHOR(S) — Begoña de Abajo (ES), Irene Campo (ES), Carlos García (ES), Jesús Lazcano (ES), Architects

TORRELAVEGA (ES) — WINNER

CONTACT — T. +34 915466276 / +34 659630983 estudio@espaciovacante.com, www.espaciovacante.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — Vacant Space thinks over two contemporary issues. On the one hand, the integration of infrastructures that have become disconnected spaces from the city, due to a lack of uses. On the other hand, an issue inherent to the contest question, which in Torrelavega National Livestock Market gets even more significant. The building, already related to the productivity of the area from the last decades, needs to be reconsidered and transformed for the needs of the new century. The challenge of the post-industrial city relies on finding new markets and on integrating new uses for underused buildings. For this reason, the proposed strategy consists in relocating the administrative uses into the Switch, a new band, used as a membrane, allowing dividing the main space into two large areas. This will allow simultaneous uses, overlapping the livestock market with other proposed public and urban activities. This strategy also answers to an urban scale, connecting with a new public passage, two areas of the city across the building.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — This is an interesting approach to the old Torrelavega Livestock Fair precinct as an infrastructure that needs urgent upgrading, while maintaining the current functions of the precinct, to be compatible with totally different types of uses that require specific infrastructure and environmental conditions. The project identifies and defines this issue with a rational program which maintains parallel belts of usage. It is a project with minimal architectural transformations and maximised usage possibilities.

De vaca negra

AUTHOR(S) — Ana Rosa Soria Sánchez (ES), Leticia Martínez Velasco (ES), Carlos Soria Sánchez (ES), Architects

TORRELAVEGA (ES) — RUNNER-UP

CONTACT — Paris (FR) T. +33 761896475 soria.anarosa@gmail.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The urban pattern: Our project suggests the inclusion of a renovated industry in Torrelavega. Productive spaces are meant to coexist with housing, public equipment and green areas. The perimeter: The actual perimeter of the market is not homogeneous at all. New green areas, a new residence and the relocation of the fire station are proposed to improve the connection between the market and the city. The pavilion: An innovation hub will set out economic activities but also will host new leisure and exhibition areas, the livestock start-ups farm, with three scenarios. The feeder is the place that acts as an incubator feeding ideas. The trap is a suspended support structure that acts as the stage of a theatre allowing a catalogue of experiences. Finally, there is the yard where finished objects are exposed.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — This project detects the needs resulting from the current use of the large pavilion, and also suggests solutions for its correct combination with new activities. It proposes a glazed separation space that will allow the parallel use of the different spaces. Two areas are proposed for the pavilion space that is freed up as a result: one for freer, larger-scale uses and another smaller space that hosts flexible uses inside. This space is “designed” and equipped to permit different types of activities. The proposal for the unification of the pavilion’s land with the park means that both spaces will gain in terms of relationships and identity.

AUTHOR(S) — Raphaël Hoyet (FR), Urbanist; Lara Bretones Torrecilla (ES), Alba Navarrete Rodríguez (ES), Maria García Méndez (ES), Architects-urbanists CONTACT — made in + improvistos, Paris (FR) T. +33 144836699, contact@made-in.work www.made-in.work / www.improvistos.org

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — Productive paths. The aim of the project is to use the market transformation as the central piece of a productive urban strategy. We follow three symbolic axis: rural/environmental, industrial/productive and historical/cultural to develop its growth among the city. This traditional approach creates three urban axis crossing spatial and programmatic issues. The rural axis is linked to agriculture, raw materials and natural elements. The crafts axis promotes traditional skills. The urban axis connects valuable places of the city. They cross and meet up in the Market plot and redefine it. This is where all the ingredients are combined and where the urban and business fabrics melt through a training platform mixing traditional with global knowledge for a concrete visibility of the producers.