Sustainable Interface | E13 Runner Up
Europan 13 - Barcelona, Spain
With its strategic location between the Green City, the Productive City and the Living City, the new Marina del Prat Vermell neighborhood has the potential to become a self-sufficient Sustainable Interface amid them, expanding the possibilities of living and working within the city.
THE GREEN CITY - The existing streets, with their Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), are extended and become Green Fingers that reconnect the neighborhood with the green lung of Montjuïc mountain.
THE PRODUCTIVE CITY - The city’s lack of adequate spaces for productive activities is tackled by introducing thick Robust Plinths that have the adaptability of the industrial spaces nearby, and where any use is possible, including light urban manufacturing and local production that make the city’s economy more resilient.
THE LIVING CITY - On top of these plinths, Living Toppings enable any desired lifestyle that encourages a low ecological footprint and seeks to build a strong community.
SUSTAINABLE INTERFACE - A mixture of these cities is developed in The Workshop House for City Starters, a new social housing typology that provides affordable living and working spaces for starting economic and social initiatives. Between two Green Fingers, a Robust Plinth with workshops of all sizes has work space for residents and neighbors, becoming a social focus. On top, a Living Topping of lofts provides spaces for living and working. On the roof, there’s a large collective and productive garden with views to the sea.
Authors: Eduard Balcells, Honorata Grzesikowska, Architects and Urban Designers
