Adrián M. Maldonado
With the construction of an agricultural research center, the aim is to change the paradigm of the use of greenhouses, going from being understood as a place of cultivation and exploitation, to an opportunity for teaching and experimentation.
Roquetas de Mar is located between two seas: the Mediterranean and El Mar de Plástico, a huge white expanse to the west made up of greenhouses.
On the border between the two, the tension that occurs generates a mistreated and forgotten territory of unfinished and disconnected voids. The project is located in one of these voids, carefully attached to the existing party walls and following the lines of the buildings, with the aim of giving the city an end and a beginning, creating a new block that houses a large square inside. , a new urban node that dialogues with the limit instead of turning its back on it.
With the construction of an agricultural research center, the aim is to change the paradigm of the use of greenhouses, which go from being understood as a place of cultivation and exploitation, to an opportunity for teaching and experimentation.
The central space aims to function as an oasis between the two worlds, an orchard full of vegetation that encourages new interactions between the inhabitants of the place, producing a reactivation of the city thanks to the introduction of a new user: the student.
The building adopts the structural and constructive logic of the greenhouses, with light construction elements and a clear climatic strategy, taking it to a human scale for the city, thus achieving a dialogue between the two worlds.
Author: Adrián M. Maldonado.
Location: Almería, Spain.
University: Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona.
Year: 2022