For Almansa Park, which is halfway between a natural park and an urban plaza, EMAC Arquitectura proposes an intervention that restores the existing facilities while retaining the materials for the new ones, creating an integrated complex that blends the different buildings with the park itself and the landscape, thus opening up to the city and its inhabitants, offering them a place to belong.
The project maintains the existing trees, complemented by a perimeter of perennial vegetation that, along with the vegetative earth floors and colored asphalt paving, concrete benches, and galvanized steel furniture, creates a blend of respectful and environmentally sensitive materials that invite exploration. The arrangement of these elements and the facilities facilitates the celebration of numerous events throughout the year.
Almansa Park and cultural facilities por EMAC Arquitectura. Photograph by Milena Villalba Montoya.
Project description by EMAC Arquitectura
San Javier's Almansa Park is located in the heart of the municipality, covering an area of 31,948.75 m². The Music Conservatory, the Municipal Dance School, the Official Language School, the Courts, and a school are located within the park's perimeter, with the Town Hall also very close by. The park also houses a Civic Center, the Civic Center Extension, and the Summer Auditorium, an iconic facility that hosts the International Jazz Festival (25 editions) and the Theater, Music, and Dance Festival (53 editions) during the summer.
San Javier City Council, aware of the importance of this space, which has accompanied several generations of residents throughout its life, is promoting a series of initiatives to bring Almansa Park up to the standards that society demands today. For this reason, the project initiated a Citizen Participation process to gather ideas and needs, secure European EDUSI Funds to finance the proposal (2016), and reached an agreement with the College of Architects of the Region of Murcia to launch an Ideas Competition for the Renovation of Almansa Park (2017), ensuring a rigorous and transparent process.
According to the competition rules, the park featured a series of elements and additions over time that had no common thread, resulting in a divided and disjointed park, riddled with architectural barriers and largely invaded by vehicles. The existing buildings, in turn, did not comply with current accessibility regulations, were extremely energy-efficient, and lacked architectural interest. A new program of needs was also requested, which included a new Winter Theater/Auditorium that would de-seasonalize the summer festivals, extending the cultural program throughout the year, as well as a series of new uses in the park, such as games for different ages and adapted to different needs, a skate park, Cartagena-style bowling, an outdoor art space, a smaller parking area than the current one, an enclosure to allow for nighttime closure, etc.
The winning proposal from this process understands that Almansa Park should be a public space that cements cultures, a space that respects the environment and fosters and ensures equality and social relations, a place to strengthen ties with neighbors and with one's own city. An open, flexible space without architectural barriers, where all kinds of activities can be combined, where both community and individuality can be accommodated; that it covers the widest possible range of populations, from children to the elderly, and that it is inclusive, because only by responding to diversity can we ensure the full development of society.
Almansa Park is on an intermediate scale between a natural park and an urban plaza, which places it within the realm of an urban park. At its boundary with the city, and given the need to close the park, we believe it is essential that it not become a barrier between two opposing realities (leisure/work, natural/artificial, park/city), but rather that the transition between the two occurs smoothly and gradually. Therefore, the layout of the fence is withdrawn from the perimeter and generates spaces of expansion and contraction, creating plazas (opportunities for encounter) in the spaces ceded to the city. As we enter the park, we seek paths and views that no longer respond to the city but to the landscape. Three elements are established (fences, paving, and trees) that overlap each other, helping to blur the boundaries.
Few materials are used: topsoil and mortar floors (which ensure natural infiltration through drainage ditches and SUDS), colored asphalt paving, curbs and benches made of in-situ concrete, and hot-dip galvanized steel furniture.
The existing trees are maintained and complemented by existing species. A perimeter of evergreen trees is created to create an "evergreen" backdrop, and the interior is completed with deciduous species.
Regarding the facilities, a new envelope is created for the renovated facilities (to improve energy efficiency), using the same materials as for the new Auditorium/Theater. This creates a complex not only at a social and cultural level, but also formally, organized around an exterior hall as an extension of the park.
Given the tight budget available, as well as the setbacks experienced throughout the project (pandemic, lack of supplies, price increases, etc.), the choice of a few materials sourced from local industry has proven valid and necessary.
