Carme Square and Amics Street
The project is part of the strategy of converting the historical centre of the Catalan city of Manresa into a pedestrian area. The project included the development of the Carme square and the adjacent streets of Carme and Amics.
The Carme square was created, a century ago, from the demolition of a housing block which contained the difference of height between two streets. The difference in elevation between the two sides of the square involved a cross slope of 13%. The square was former ordered with the execution of a straight and vertical wall that divided the space into two levels. By the end of the twentieth century the square was enlarged with the demolition of the northern group of buildings. This enlargement area, until the execution of the new project, was left unpaved.
The project proposed lateral strips of granite pavement that, from the adjacent streets, form contrasting carpets at the sides of the square leaving a rough pavement of concrete and stone in the central area (a contemporary reinterpretation of one of the historical city pavements). The granite carpets, in the square, adjust the geometry of its edges, form folds that give continuity in the area of the former vertical wall, and are raised to define a wooded little hill.
In the northern part of the square -the sunny area in winter- are gathered the furniture and the trees. The northern area -the wooded little hill- becomes the main sitting area of the square (sunny in winter and shady in summer). The rest of the square has remained free of fixed elements in order to enable the traditional activities of market and celebration.
At the request of local residents, in the new redevelopment of the space two elements of the original square have been preserved: a stone fountain, relocated to the north, and the geometry of the semicircular staircase of the southern side.
