Álvaro Viscarret
A place. A Garden. A spring.
project End of Degree Master's Degree in Architecture
University of Navarra
TutorJulio Clua
A place. A Garden. A spring. The Garden of La Latina responds to the language that relates the subjectin contactwith the nature of water, as a generating element of project.
The layout of the placefollows the same outlineas that of the 15th century placede la Cebada; the sourceof abundance and around it, a place for trade in the city.
It corresponds to the need for a place of meetingfor all the neighbours; it is a 'democrites' space, generated around the central piece that invites the whole neighbourhood to meeting. It acts as a flexible space, as in other unique spots in Madrid. The first approach to the underground water is contemplated through an exterior sheet; it acts as conductive water, forming traces that guide the citizen through the place.
The prism takes a line of reference letteras the only alignment towards the 'placede los Carros' and 'Puerta de Moros', where the greatest commercial activity and flow of people took place. It was also the historical entranceto the walls of the city of Madrid, through the placede la Cebada. The urban and landscape intervention reaches the limits of the plot.
It is a volumetric abstraction of the urban canvas of Madrid to place it in the centre of the place. It is the water cycle that flows through the accumulation of subjectuntil it reaches the underground world where it stagnates; it symbolises the thermal baths under the place. The idea of the spring is associated with the geometry of the piece, of a vitreous nature, which defines the pure form of the water and translucent in relation to the thermal waters. It makes it a central element of the underground space, making it capture specific light and sounds.
In nature, the spring acts like groundwater that comes to the surface. Thermal baths convey this image of water in nature. They represent an idea of a spring of water for the city; a spring of health, a spring of well-being, a spring of harmony. A transparent, reflective and silent oasis in the midst of the noise of Madrid.
ALZADOS: The intervention stands out from its surroundings, making it more flexible to generate a buried space for thermal baths, reaching, at the same time, the need for a green space, a garden with multiple paths that form an 'infinite' visual of the place. This garden is conceived with plant elements that form different shady spaces where they can be enjoyed.
A new lung of oxygen for Madrid. An opportunity to meetingwith nature in the middle of an urban ecosystem. The defence of the 'placeinfinite' is therefore that of a space that responds to the needs of the neighbourhood, without clinging to any exclusive use or public.
This projectgives a new air to Madrid in its most traditional urban heart, rejuvenates it and adorns it with a unique element; the place, which translates into a language of its own; the garden, which serves as an ornament for the shape of the water; the spring.