LUGAR ESPECÍFICO
1st PRIZECall for Projects Idensitat Calaf / Manresa 05 - Art Searching for New Ways of Social Participation
Program Participatory design for a garden for an elderly recreational center
Team 2A+P Architettura (Gianfranco Bombaci, Domenico Cannistraci, Pietro Chiodi, Matteo Costanzo, Valerio Franzone)
Client Idensitat, Municipality of Calaf
Location Calaf, Spain
Area 481 m2
Year 2005 Completed 2007
Photographer: Xavier Gil Dalmau
Link: Lugar Especfíco on www.idensitat.net
Lugar Especfíco is a garden no one has ever seen before. Hidden by high walls in the center of the small village of Calaf in Catalunya, there's a secret garden whose existence was unknown to the town. Its secrecy made it a tiny natural reserve, a shelter for birds and small animals.
It is a weird story about a place donated to the municipality by an old lady, with the only condition that it would have been used by and for the elderly of the village.
This green area, drawn in the romantic tradition, preserves elements of the history of the Western Garden and the Giardino all'italiana.
A series of interviews with the inhabitants and meetings with the mayor and the council members pointed to the need of the town's elders for an outdoor and private gathering place. Lugar Especfíco transformed this romantic garden into a private, public space for this community, a place of sharing where they spend the day relaxing and playing.
The garden's former secrecy is now mixed with playful voyeurism through a holed wall that grants access to the garden via a greenhouse, the only covered space of the project. Discontinuous flooring provides the necessary water absorption of the soil while still guaranteeing safe walking and dancing for everyone.
The place's original traditional and contemplative design is now mixed with a playful attitude that stimulates new activities.
