Another of the main ideas of Ramón Esteve Estudio's proposal is based on the opening of the complex to the outside, allowing the industrial complex of Las Cigarreras to become, apart from a regeneration motor in Alicante, a connecting element between the neighborhoods of Carolinas Bajas and San Antón. For this, part of the perimeter wall that closed the complex has been strategically demolished, generating an open-air transit space where vegetation is abundant and space is articulated through steel pergolas.
Description of project by Ramón Esteve Estudio
The project starts from the idea of generating a complex that serves as a technological-cultural space that facilitates the recovery of the architectural space and acts as a motor for the urban regeneration of Alicante, rescuing the essence of this manufacturing complex from the early twentieth century and giving way to the future with an approach that promotes economic, educational, cultural and social activities.
One of the main characteristics of the proposal is based on opening the block to citizens, so that Cigarreras goes from being a closed and practically hermetic block that fragments the city to acting as a connecting element between the neighborhoods of San Antón and Carolinas Bajas . In order to promote this openness, the wall that closed the complex by the two squares was partially demolished, respecting its historical memory in an abstract way, keeping some fragments as benches to sit on and strategically opening it at the relevant points of connection.
Urban proposal and use plan
During its four phases of development, the intervention aims to generate a complex that serves as a technological-cultural space that acts as an engine for urban regeneration in the area, facilitating the incorporation of new technological companies in Alicante while hosting a socio-cultural use. that improves the lives of your neighbors. For this, spaces such as the Casa Misericordia are created, whose objective is to promote entrepreneurial initiatives and the development of R&D, thus increasing the employment rate as well as helping to distribute the business concentration of the urban center.
From the tourist and cultural approach, it is intended to position the Cigarreras as an important point of Alicante by creating a route that defines the main heritage points through green areas and pedestrian streets.
From the social approach, the creation of open meeting spaces directly connected to each other through green areas is proposed. In the Cigarreras' own warehouses, the use of space is promoted for all kinds of proposals of a cultural nature -divulgative, exhibition, etc.-, as well as for holding events, in order to incorporate Las Cigarreras as a space for the city and the citizens.
Casa Misericordia
The first phase comprises the oldest building complex, Casa de la Misericordia, in addition to the immediate outdoor areas. The building consists of more than 6,000 m2 distributed over three floors, with different constructive bodies articulated by two cloisters and a rear patio, which will be used for creative / technological spaces, coworking, social uses, library, space for exhibitions, multipurpose room, and tourist invigoration offices.
The vegetation is used as an abstract representation of tobacco, while the steel framework of the large pergolas that articulate the urbanization acts as a sculptural materialization of it.
In addition to connecting the whole with its surroundings, these elements manage to solve the need to combine and differentiate various uses in a large space.
Thus, the large pergolas transform the disused esplanade into a fresh orchard that attracts, as a public space, the inhabitants and visitors while serving as an element to articulate the exterior spaces, extending the garden in all of them.
Finally, an internal passage accessible to the public is opened that allows the group to pass through the interior of the building. This gallery appropriates a corridor that historically has served to internally articulate the buildings with each other.
The space that originally housed the Casa Misericordia becomes the technological and business hub. The intervention maintains the spatial quality that the building enjoyed and its materiality in order to evoke the original atmosphere.
The successive phases comprise the development and rehabilitation of the remaining Las Cigarreras warehouses for socio-cultural educational uses, including the intervention with a green roof of the old factory drying room.
