Vall d’en Joan, the recycled Metropolitan Park Barcelona

The Vall d’en Joan is located in the Natural Park of Garraf, in the county of Baix Llobregat, half an hour from Barcelona.

The landfill used to be an ensemble of slopes with earth covering the waste beneath but, until the moment of development of the project, without final capping. The main aim of the landfill restoration project was to convert the site in a public space, a kind of “metropolitan park” that could integrate the landfill to the surrounding landscape and corresponding vegetal species, and which was simultaneously close to city centres and located in the countryside.

To begin with, the project implied diverse challenges, technical, environmental and of landscape design. The resolution of the technical problems of capping gave way to a path through a terraced and sloped structure. As the restoration project was conceived as a Metropolitan Park due to the Valley’s proximity to city centres, but which is at the same time inside the Garraf Natural Park, special attention was paid to the road leading to it and the parking lot.

Regarding the original idea of converting the site in a new landscape, the architects focused on three main features: topography, hydraulics and vegetation. For the hydraulic necessities a draining system composed of channels of rainwater and cisterns was installed in the banks, while the vegetation and topography requirements included using resilient species that would easily adapt to the territory and, eventually, to scarceness of water. Also, to consolidate the continuity of the terraces with the Natural Park, different crops were cultivated on the slopes, to make them later expand to the surroundings and to integrate with the rest of the landscape.

However, the main objective of the whole project was not only to recuperate the landfill and convert it in a public space integrated to the National Park landscape, but mainly to bring conscience about which kind of attitude society as a whole should adopt regarding the environment.

Not only does this demonstrate great commitment and a great example of recycling – it builds further on Barcelona’s credo of taking the surrounds seriously and creating a positive legacy.

White Line Hotels – the creative network of +40 hotels -  White Line Hotels Barcelona Hotel Omm.

Project by: Batlle i Roig Arquitectes

All images courtesy  http://www.batlleiroig.com/

Jim Lambie: Spiritualized

Vortex (Bringing It All Back Home), 2011

Jim Lambie’s fifth solo exhibition at Anton Kern Gallery in New York has been conceived as “one living organism” that inhabits the gallery space and, as is usual in his work, the artist conceived the exhibition especially for it.

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Last Wednesday of the Month Architecture: Bathing Beach Seeburg at Küssnacht am Rigi

GKS Architekten + Partner AG studio from Lucerne, has developed this project at Küssnacht am Rigi, in Switzerland on Lake Lucerne. The project was conceived by the architects in 2006, and it was finally built between 2009 and 2010.

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Cabinet Home: Not Your Average Mobile Home

Rintala Eggertsson Architects have created a transportable home that was installed close the MAXXI museum in Rome during 2010.

The house is composed of three units, an ensemble of large ascending steps, each one of which the size of a shipping container that could be potentially transported anywhere. Cabinet Home is a wooden construction with a 10 m2 garden that collects rain water and sun, inspired by the idea of building an ecological one-room house. The aesthetic is minimal, and it opposes the clear exterior that reflects the sun and blends with the surroundings against the dark and shadowy interior that offers shelter for the sometimes-excessive Mediterranean light.

On the ground floor there is a kitchen and a dining room, which open to the garden. On the first level, a living room (or library) with a small terrace overlooks the garden. Finally, on the second level there is a bedroom, with access to the rooftop and a view to the sky.

Sami Rintala and Dagur Eggertsson conceive contemporary architecture as “the theatre of our primeval social and private behavior, fulfillment of our biological true needs, whether we realize, accept and implement this fact or not. Cabinet Home is based on a simple idea of combining three nature elements that are freely there to be used for no one’s loss and everybody’s gain: trees that grow by themselves, rain and sunshine that come rain or shine.”

With this project, the Finnish-Norwegian office is encouraging the use of solar energy and is proposing a model for a discrete use of space and resources in Western culture; with it they consider it relevant to promote the idea that quality of life can be achieved through excellent design and simple materials, and not necessarily through more square meters.

The project was jointly supported by the Norwegian and Finnish embassies in Rome. Whatever it is about the country they come from, Norwegian architects are taking pioneering leaps in blending inside and outside, sometimes nearly erasing the line completely. If you like the look of Cabinet Home, you’ll definitely need to go see White Line Hotels edit Juvet Landskapshotell.

Project data:
location: Maxxi Museum, Via Guido Reni 4, Roma
size: 28, 5 square meter interior + 10 square meter garden
materials: wood; sawn timber structure, board exterior façade, plywood interiors
construction time:16.-26.5.2010
construction team: Sami Rintala, Rintala Eggertsson Arch., Rinchard Barriteau, U2 Arkitekter, Jani Rintala, Tuomalan Tekniikka Ltd, Tony Karlsson, Tuomalan Tekniikka Ltd.Politecnico di Milano: professors: Paolo Mestriner, Massimiliano Spadoni, Giuseppe Cusatelli students: Chiara Cabrini,Clara Ferrari,Veronica Grazioli, Marta Bartolini, Emanuela Baldissera, Alessandro Parise, Giacomo Grazioli, Edoardo Giancola, Federico Zarattini
sponsors: ONYX Solar, Spain – Tuomalan Tekniikka, Finland – Iguzzini, Italy – ACER, Italy – Finnair Cargo, Finland
support:Norwegian Embassy in Rome – Finnish Embassy in Rome

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Contributing Writer: Gabriela Galati

Images: Rintala-Eggertsson Architects