In 2004 MEDIOMUNDO arquitectos won first prize in a competition launched by Utrera Town Council to design a metropolitan park around the La Consolación convent on the outskirts of Utrera, an area surrounded by ancient orange groves dotted with abandonned factories.
Why cant a park be created through citizen participation? At MEDIOMUNDO arquitectos we are more interested in architectural tools than in harmony of form or determinist design. In our project we proposed a combination of low intensity interventions that allow citizens to transform the meaning and uses of the park.
Our aim was to create a new space for producing culture and social networks: a space in which people participate and that generates local identity.
The edges of the park are diffuse and rather than a perimeter there is a mesh of public and collective spaces. The hundred-year-old orange groves add value to the environment and landscape. Ditches, wells, ponds and canals bear testament to a culture of water. The existing buildings will act to support activities and living heritage. Sculptures, murals and artistic proposals encourage visitors to stroll through the park. The scars from past fires, smells of the orchards and other remnants from the past define the parks future.
2004
Programme: Landscape design and metropolitan park surrounding the La Consolación convent
Location: Utrera, Seville
Date of competition: 2004
Awards: 1st Prize
Category: Park
Area: 100,000m2
Developer: Utrera Town Council
Collaborators: A. Cortés
