Héctor Fernández Elorza had to face the challenge of projecting an intervention in the landscape with a minimal budget at the access point to the farm, where there were already some prefabricated booths but which did not sufficiently identify this place as a welcome point.
The color red is the protagonist, relating the center to the landscape and highlighting the lines of the structure. The height of the scale is high because the workers normally travel by bus. The main function of the proposed structure is to generate a large horizontal plane of shadow.
Berries Los Mimbrales Welcome Center for Temporary Workers by Héctor Fernández Elorza. Photograph by Montse Zamorano.
Berries Los Mimbrales Welcome Center for Temporary Workers by Héctor Fernández Elorza. Photograph by Montse Zamorano.
Description of project by Héctor Fernández Elorza
The project arises with the intention of creating a welcome center for seasonal workers on the Los Mimbrales farm in Almonte, Huelva. The main objective was to design a new structure that could provide shade for the workers who arrive and depart every day from this transportation hub. The first decision was to concentrate the forces on the minimum actions to achieve the maximum possible repercussions. The challenge was to create an intervention in the landscape with a minimal budget at the access point to the farm, where there were already some prefabricated booths but which did not sufficiently identify this place as a welcome point. The following criteria were proposed:
Berries Los Mimbrales Welcome Center for Temporary Workers by Héctor Fernández Elorza. Photograph by Montse Zamorano.
Color selection
The color red is the protagonist. This color not only allows this new center to be related to the landscapes that surround it but is also used as a tool to highlight the fine lines of the structure, as red works as a complementary color to the green environment.
Scale control
Since workers arrive daily by bus, the height of the structure was defined by the gauge of a bus.
Control of loads
The main function of the proposed structure is to generate a large horizontal plane of shadow. To achieve the minimum structure, it was also necessary to minimize its loads; for this reason, a white textile fabric cover was chosen.
As a result, a large shade plane that improves the climatic comfort and work conditions of seasonal workers and a unique intervention in the landscape are capable of relating, through color, the structure to its existing environment.
