Plaza Mayor of Traspinedo
12/04/2016.
by Óscar Miguel Ares Álvarez [Traspinedo] Spain.
metalocus, ALVARO LAMAS
metalocus, ALVARO LAMAS
The reform of the square held by Óscar Miguel Ares Álvarez was recently awarded the IX Prize of Architecture and Urbanism of the Castilla and Leon in the category of Design of urban spaces, gardening and landscaping. Square aims to concentrate all the natural resources that surround the village being a representative of the same canvas.
Description of the project by Óscar Miguel Ares Álvarez
The requested project was to remodel the town square in a town of just over one thousand inhabitants. Lack of character, the town hall was little more than a wide degraded street. It was necessary to act in order to provide the place with the representation and the multifunctional space required for festivities.
With one single material, slate, all needs were satisfied: The cobbles, natural textures, recall the plain of the valley and serve as place for activities; a wide line consisting in four centimeters saw cut plates, metaphor of the fast-flowing Duero, serves at the same time as a space limit, a bench and a fountain; a triangular surface, drawn by six centimeters thick polished plates, symbolizes the nearby hills and makes the function of dividing element between pedestrian and vehicular traffic as well as children’s area; wood boards rest on a block of slate which serve as seats surround the olive tree rooted in the landscape before the reform. We dare define this project as a symbolic, stone natured and poetic memory of the people of Traspinedo, resolute in its small Town Square.
Óscar Miguel Ares (Valladolid, 1972). Architect since 1998 (School of Architecture of Valladolid). In 2010 he became Doctor in the Universidad de Valladolid – with the thesis “GATEPAC 1928-1939” – being his tutor D. Juan Antonio Cortés. Since 2013 he is projects professor in ETS of Architecture of Valladolid. He has collaborated with the International University Isabel I of Castile and has taught as guest lecturer at the ETSA La Salle (Universidad Ramón Lluch, Barcelona), Universidad San Pablo CEU (Valladolid) and at School of Design de la University Al Ghurari (Dubái, EAU).
His texts and works in the area of architectural criticism have been published by the magazine Arquitectura Viva and the web plataformadearquitectura.com, as well as by the departments of composition and projects of the ETSA Madrid, UPC of Barcelona - with whom he collaborates assiduously as editor in the publication DC Papers-, ETSA of Seville and ETSA Cartagena. He has lectured in Helsinki, Mexico D.F, Oporto, Pamplona, Barcelona, Madrid or Seville. Author of the book: "La Modernidad alternativa. Tránsitos de la forma en la arquitectura española (1930-1936)"
As an architect he has won several competitions, his work being recognized and awarded at the Biennial of Spanish Architecture (2011), the Sustainable Architecture Awards of Castilla y León (2017) and the Architecture Biennials of Castilla y León (2009, 2011 and 2015) ). His works have been published in numerous national and international magazines, being reviewed in newspapers like "La Vanguardia". Since March 2012 she has been working alone, together with the architect Bárbara Arranz and Jesús J.Ruiz, under the brand Contexts of Architecture and Urbanism.
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