Architecture studio Estudio ACTA has designed the new remodelling and pedestrianisation of the Plaza de la Merced in Huelva. The city council of the Spanish city is currently trying to renovate the main urban spaces of the city, adapting them to the changing life of the city's inhabitants.

The historic public space where the Cathedral-University is located, considered a B.I.C. (Bien de Interés Cultural / Asset of Cultural Interest), was last intervened in the middle of the last century, so the project tries to solve the problems that this intervention had, thus adapting it to the needs of the new century. The project is based on ​​creating an urban space with greater permeability, highlighting the privileged environment in which it is located.

The new Plaza de la Merced space, designed by Estudio ACTA, is organised around a central space that occupies the stage where daily life takes place in the city. With the cathedral and the university as a backdrop, a series of enclosed spaces, physically and visually linked, surround the perimeter of a central space facing the façade of the Cathedral-University.

The intervention pedestrianises three of the side streets that surround the square, achieving continuity, universal accessibility and a large central space free of objects facing the façade of the Cathedral-University. Among the different spaces of changing scales and colours, the project places different green areas on mounds that recall the topography of the city, while a system of lines and drainage surfaces for collecting rainwater recall the river and seafaring character of the city.

Remodelación y peatonalización de la Plaza de la Merced por Estudio ACTA. Fotografía por Fernando Alda.

Renovation and pedestrianization of the Plaza de la Merced by Estudio ACTA. Photograph by Fernando Alda.

Project description by Estudio ACTA

In our Mediterranean culture, squares are part of the stage of life. Our visual memory sometimes tries to keep the scenery of the moments of our little history lived there unchanged forever, so that we can remain young, at least in our memory. Perhaps for this reason, one of the most complicated projects an architect can face is the renovation of a historic public space, as is the case here, half a century after its last comprehensive intervention.

But cities, like the people who inhabit them, are organisms in continuous change and their settings must adapt to new times. Otherwise, new life will not find adequate support in them and will move to the periphery. We must therefore thank the Huelva City Council for its brave commitment to the renovation of the main urban spaces of the city through architectural competitions.

Remodelación y peatonalización de la Plaza de la Merced por Estudio ACTA. Fotografía por Fernando Alda.
Renovation and pedestrianization of the Plaza de la Merced by Estudio ACTA. Photograph by Fernando Alda.

The previous design of the square contained serious deficiencies in accessibility to the interior of the square and excessive division into small spaces with large differences in level. But, above all, its main shortcoming was turning its back on the Cathedral-University B.I.C. The objectives of the competition were precisely to solve all these problems, pedestrianising three of its side streets, achieving continuity and universal accessibility on the slopes of the entire area and achieving a large central space free of objects and facing the façade of the Cathedral-University, which would thus see its identity and historical role in the area reinforced.

The Plaza de la Merced constitutes an outstanding urban, road, topographic and cultural enclave in the city, since it is located right in the place where the topography of the Huelva hill system comes into contact with the flat area of ​​the city and its old marshes, filled in times past. And so, the proposed green areas are presented as mounds that recall the peculiar topography of the city, while a whole system of lines and drainage surfaces for collecting rainwater recall the river and seafaring character of the city.

Remodelación y peatonalización de la Plaza de la Merced por Estudio ACTA. Fotografía por Fernando Alda.
Renovation and pedestrianization of the Plaza de la Merced by Estudio ACTA. Photograph by Fernando Alda.

The proposal seeks to physically and visually link a series of small, welcoming spaces (rooms) with a large empty central space towards which they all converge, with the Cathedral-University BIC as a backdrop, and which makes possible any configuration, more or less ephemeral, with a large audience. Today, it is a matter of equipping rather than designing spaces, of providing them with the necessary support facilities that allow for a multitude of uses: sports, cultural, festive, musical, political or Christmas.

In short, the square becomes a metaphor for the theatre of everyday life in the city, where the central circle would be the stalls, the five perimeter rooms the upper boxes, the large empty space the stage where the action takes place and, finally, the Cathedral and the University the incomparable backdrop of the scene.

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Architects
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Estudio ACTA. Lead architects.- F. Javier López Rivera, Ramón Pico Valimaña.

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Collaborators
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Quantity surveyor.- Pedro Toscano Arroyo.
Project and Renderings.- Luis M. Cortés Sanchez.
Archaeology.- Benjamin Cavaco, Ánfora.
Topography.- Parallel 37.
Installations.- Jaime Navarro.
Gardening.- Nomad Garden.

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Contractor
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TR Construya  S.L.U.

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Developer
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Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Huelva.

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Area
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11,883.14  sqm.

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Dates
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Competition.- October 2020.
Design.- May 2022.
Construction start.- June 2023.
Completed.- July 2024.

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Location
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Plaza de la Merced, Huelva. Spain.

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Budget
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€ 2,048,753.38.

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Manufacturers
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Curbs.- El Bordillo.
Pavements.- Breinco.
Coloured asphalt and concrete.- Mebi.
Electrical installation.- Delux.
Lighting.- Iguzzini / Disur.
Plumbing.- Ramos Pulido.
Sanitation and water supply.- Sumhtec.
Gardening.- Ancoma.
Concrete benches, wooden benches and retaining walls.- Kuma.
Street furniture.- Equysur.
Sustainable urban drainage system.- Graf.
Photovoltaic scooter charging system.- Solum.

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Photography
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Acta estudio. Ramón Pico Valimaña and Javier López Rivera formed the ACTA team and established their base in Seville in 1993. Since they met during early courses at the Architectural School, their professional road movie runs its daily course between the provinces of Seville, Cadiz and Huelva, working on projects for both the public administration and the private sector. They have travelled to different places in the national and international geography (Bolzano, Milan, Piacenza, Nancy, Dubai, Shanghai) showing their work and carrying out teaching tasks as guest professors. 

They have obtained numerous recognitions for their constructed work, among which they emphasize: FAD Award 2003 (Sendero de la Algaida, Espacios Exteriores) and Finalists FAD 2002 (Architecture and Ephemeral Installations) and 2011 (Interior Design); Opinion Award 3-ª Bienal Europea del Paisaje de Barcelona 2003; Finalist in the VII Bienal de Arquitectura Española 2003 (Housing in Doña Blanca); Special Mention 1996 and Finalist in the Muestra de Jóvenes Arquitectos de la Fundación Camuñas 2004; Selection for the exhibition JAE (Jóvenes Arquitectos de España, 2006); Winner of the VIII Colegio Arquitectos Huelva 2000 Award; Winner of the Torres Clavé Award (1998-2003), Colegio Arquitectos Cádiz; Finalist in the Endesa Awards (2013). 

These and other works have been published in various regional, national and international media: Arquitectura COAM, Quaderns, Pasajes, Arquitectura Viva, Anuario A&V, Bauwelt, ON Diseño, Metalocus, Neutra, Archicreé, Garten+Landschaft, Arquitectura Ibérica, Detail, El Croquis etc. 

Ramón Pico Valimaña (El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, 1966). Architect, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Seville, 1991. Doctor Architect, ETSA. Seville, 2011. Master’s in Architectural Projects, C.S.A. Antonio Camuñas Foundation. Madrid, 1992-93. Professor of Construction from 1995-97 and of Contemporary History and PFC since 1998, ETSA. Seville. Co-director of the 1st Master's Degree in Design. Pablo Olavide University (Seville) and Director of the Summer Courses Bahia de Cádiz since 2003.

Javier López Rivera (Huelva, 1966). Architect, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Seville, 1991. Doctor Architect, ETSA. Seville, 2012. Master's Degree in Integrated Projects of Architecture. C.S.A. Antonio Camuñas Foundation. Madrid, 1990-91. Professor of Graphic Analysis, Graphic Ideation, Projects and PFC since 2004, ETSA. Seville. Winner of the 3rd, 7th and 19th editions of the Contemporary Architecture Photography Contest, COA Huelva. Finalist in the 3rd edition and Winner of the 4th edition of the ICAL-ETSAB International Artificial Light Photography Competition (2017, 2018).
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F. Javier López Rivera (Huelva, 1966), Architect (Seville, 1991), Master in Architecture Projects (Madrid, 1991) and Doctor Architect (Seville, 2012), is Associate Professor and Accredited as Head of Graphic Expression, Studio class and Final Degree Projects at University of Seville since 2004, besides having been a visiting professor and lecturer in Nancy, Piacenza, Milan, Bolzano and Shanghai.

His research focuses on the relationship between architecture and photography, he is part of the national research group FAME (Photography and Modern Architecture in Spain from 1925 to 1965) and his reserach and architectural production has been published in national and international magazines and conferences.

Along with Ram≤n Pico, he  has won numerous awards for his built work, among which are the FAD 2003 Award on Public Space, where he has been a finalist on three other occasions and categories, the Opinion Award  in the 3rd European Biennial of Landscape, Finalist in the VII Spanish Architecture Biennial, Special Mention and Finalist at Camuñas Foundation, Finalist of the Andalusia Architecture Prize and selected for JAE display.
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Ramón Pico Valimaña. Born in El Puerto de Santa María, 1966, Spain. He has been an architect since 1991 and a doctor in 2011 from the ETSA in Seville. Contracted Professor Doctor of the Department of History, Theory and Architectural Composition of the University of Seville, to which he has been assigned since 1997.

He has been invited to the universities of Lund (Sweden), Nancy (France), Milan Polytechnic (Italy), Tongji (Shanghai) and SUJUST (Miangyang, China).

Since 2003 he has been co-director of the Master's degree in Design for Society organized by the Pablo de Olavide University (Seville) in collaboration with the Glasgow Polytechnic and the Glasgow School of Arts.

He has received numerous distinctions, his work being collected in numerous exhibitions and publications, including Bauwelt, Garten + Landschaft, Iberian Architecture, Detail, METALOCUS, Quaderns, On Diseño, AV, Pasajes, Arquitectura, Diseño Interior ... dean of the College of Architects of Cádiz from 2007 to 2011.
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Published on: September 16, 2024
Cite: "Stage of life. Renovation of Plaza de la Merced by Estudio ACTA" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/stage-life-renovation-plaza-de-la-merced-estudio-acta> ISSN 1139-6415
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