Almería Cathedral Square
We built a town square that uses palm trees as if they were columns, the sky their vault, creating a cathedral’s nave out of air.
If the reiterated aim of Gothic architecture was to create naves with columns that appeared to be palm trees of stone, and the delicate stone structures they built seem to affirm such a goal, here, in our airy nave, their beginning is our end. We created an airy nave, shaped from real palm trees whose vaults are the skies supported on palms.
The extended length of time since this project won the competition, more than 22 years, serves to validate the idea and allow for the decisions of which elements to use in its construction to mature.
By day, the palms and the shadows they cast create a cool vault that their column-like trunks gracefully support. And these palm leaves, rib a sky of such a clear blue that it whitens, swaying to the eastern the wind. By night, the palm trees seem to support this celestial dome, now a dark blue from which stars sparkle down to adorn that a wondrous idea made real.
