The project carried out by the architectural team at Comas-Pont Arquitectes can be summarized in three main concepts: the plaza, the viewing platform, and the communal spaces. By giving prominence to existing central elements, such as the old water collection well, incorporating rest areas, and creating shaded spaces thanks to the vegetation, the architects have enhanced the use of the open spaces in the village of Riells.
Additionally, the proposal reclaims spaces originally occupied by vehicles, now offering them as quiet spaces where residents can socialize, fostering good neighborliness. Considering the existing slope, the project proposes a staircase-step system that offers views of the Cingles d'en Bertí. The project for Riells Plaza can be summarized as a democratic architecture that enhances the sense of belonging to the place and creates spaces that can be used by all residents on equal terms.
Riells square by Comas-Pont arquitectes. Photography by Adrià Goula.
Description of project by Comas-Pont arquitectes
The surroundings of the village of Riells are formed by the cliffs of Gallifa and the cliffs of Bertí, a rugged and calcareous terrain with reddish soils. The proposal intends to recover the old town for the citizen in dialogue with the surrounding landscape.
Its historic centre around the church of Sant Vicenç and the cemetery, both from the eleventh century, is paved with solid reddish brick recalling the tonality of the land of the cliffs that surround the town, managing to integrate the final image into the natural landscape and achieving a unitary whole around the church. A single platform is proposed to improve accessibility and return public space to the citizen. A new hanging lighting recalls popular festivals and its past as a summer village.
The square
The existing well in the square is recovered as the central point of the geometry of the new pavement, of the water’s collection and the location of the new fountain. A linear bench runs along the church achieving rest areas without losing the versatility of the square, while solving the humidity problems suffered in the interior nave. A new tree which dialogues with the existing fig tree at the top of the bell tower, provides shade to the living area.
The viewpoint
In the area of the viewpoint, the existing slope is solved by introducing a staircase-step, and a solid handrailing is proposed which hide the buildings of the lower terrace, enhancing the views of the cliffs of Bertí.
Collective places
The project recovers an occupied space by vehicles in a space for the citizen, friendly and rested, which restores the quiet life of a village where children can play while their parents socialize and the elderly rest on the bench. A good neighborliness is promoted. It becomes a democratic architecture to be experienced by everyone and under equal conditions. Three collective objects define the square and achieve a comfortable space: the bench (the rest), the tree (the shade) and the Fountain (the refreshment).
The natural elements are enhanced:
Water
The intervention recovers the memory of the place, discovering the historic walled well and converting it as the protagonist. The entire radial geometry of the square is concentrated at the midpoint of the well, while an extension of it integrates the collection of rainwater and the jet of water from the fountain without contaminating the well.
The land
The reddish soils of the surroundings solidify in the solid bricks of elongated format, introducing the landscape and its tones to the old town of the village. This poetics of space achieves a sense of belonging to the place, with its landscape, its slow rhythm and the sounds of nature.
