La forma de la ciudad está íntimamente relacionada con la democracia. Esta es la tesis del Premio, que, desde el año 2000, reconoce y difunde los procesos de transformación y mejora de los espacios públicos en Europa. Las ciudades están lejos de ser un paraíso idílico. En sus espacios públicos se concentran y se expresan algunos de los principales problemas de la sociedad actual. Por suerte, Europa también ofrece muchos casos ejemplares de mejora de sus espacios públicos, que son sensibles al contexto y ponen en valor la dimensión colectiva y social de la vida urbana. De Glasgow a Estambul, de Lisboa a Bucarest, el Premio Europeo del Espacio Público Urbano se ha convertido, a lo largo de sus ocho ediciones, en un observatorio privilegiado de las ciudades europeas.
JOINT WINNER. RENOVATION OF THE OLD PORT. Marseille. (France). Michel Desvigne & Norman Robert Foster.
La renovación del Vieux-Port libera los muelles de obstáculos y vehículos, haciendo compatible la presencia de embarcaciones de recreo con el acceso y el disfrute de cualquier ciudadano.
El Puerto Viejo de Marsella es el mayor dentro de un núcleo urbano de toda Europa. Sitio fundacional de la capital provenzal, fue su centro económico hasta mediados del siglo XIX, cuando el transporte de mercancías y pasajeros fue desplazado al Gran Puerto Marítimo. Tiene una bocana estrecha, flanqueada por dos viejas fortificaciones, y ocupa una bahía natural en la que confluyen los distritos más céntricos. Pero, a pesar de su centralidad y belleza, el puerto terminó el siglo XX desordenado y decadente. Las instalaciones de los clubes náuticos, que lo abarrotaban de barreras arquitectónicas y visuales, privaban al público del acceso al 80% de los muelles, donde, además, la hegemonía del coche ahuyentaba a los peatones.
En 2009, el Ayuntamiento y el ente Marseille Provence Métropole (MPM) convocaron un concurso para enderezar la situación. La primera fase de la reforma ha liberado de obstáculos y vehículos los tres muelles del puerto, revestidos ahora con un pavimento unitario de granito pálido que recuerda los adoquines originales de piedra caliza. El Quai des Belges, muelle central, dedica el 60% de su superficie a los peatones y los protege del sol bajo la Grande Ombrière, un palio rectangular de 1.000 m2 que también puede acoger grandes eventos. En el agua, se han dispuesto nuevos embarcaderos flotantes capaces de acoger todas las actividades náuticas sin interferir en el paso ni las vistas de los paseantes.
Gracias a un proceso consultivo que tuvo en cuenta las sugerencias de residentes, comerciantes y asociaciones locales antes de convocar el concurso, el puerto ha recuperado su vitalidad atendiendo al interés general. La presencia de embarcaciones de recreo, que nutre la actividad económica y asociativa, se ha hecho compatible con el acceso y el disfrute de cualquier ciudadano. Así, mientras otros puertos urbanos combaten la decadencia económica cediendo a privatizaciones que comprometen su rol de espacio público, el Vieux-Port ha sabido renovarse ampliando su condición de lugar compartido y abierto a todos.
Developer.- MPM Communauté urbaine Marseille Provence Métropole, Direction des Infrastructures.
Authors.- Michel Desvigne Paysagiste MDP, Foster + Partners, Tangram, INGEROP, AIK.
Country.- France.
Surface.- 12.000 m².
Cost.- 45.000.000 €.
Project.- 2011.
Work.- 2012.
End of work.- 2013.
AUTHORS
Michel Desvigne (Montbéliard, 1958) is a well-known French landscape architect and a professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He has been awarded the French Academy Architecture Medal (2000), the French Grand National Prize for Urban Planning (2011), and the Luxembourg Landscape Architecture Prize (2011) as well as the French “Metropolitan Territories” Prize for Public Space, Le Moniteur (2013) for his renovation of the Old Port of Marseille. He has been named Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2003) and has been president of the École Nationale du Paysage in Versailles since 2009.
http://www.micheldesvigne.com/
Norman Robert Foster (Manchester, 1935) is a well-known British architect and founder of Foster+Partners, which has offices in cities all around the world. In 1997 he received the British Order of Merit in 1997 and, in 1999, was created a life peer by Queen Elizabeth II, with the title Baron Foster of Thames Bank. Among the most prestigious architectural prizes he has received are the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects (1994), the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1999) and the Prince of Asturias Award (2009).
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/news/
JOINT WINNER. THE BRAIDED VALLEY. Elche, Spain. Por Grupo Aranea.
A network of interlaced paths and footbridges has transformed the bed of the Vinalopó River into a linear park that stitches together the neighbourhoods through which it passes, connecting them with natural spaces to the north of the city.
The Vinalopó River is considerably reduced when it crosses the city of Elche. Irrigation upstream and very irregular rainfall mean that water only flows in any abundance in autumn, when sudden flooding can occur. This has cut out a riverbed with steep sides, mainly as a result of landslides. In the 1970s, major channelling work put an end to flooding but also eliminated the network of paths by means of which residents on the right bank could reach the adjoining Palmeral, a vast palm grove which is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Relegated to the condition of a marginal rubbish tip, the watercourse became a barrier that divided the city into two halves, both facing away from it.
In 2009, the City Council called for entries in a competition aimed at converting the riverbed into a three-kilometre-long linear park. The first phase of the work was completed on the upstream section where the social deterioration of the neighbourhoods and scarcity of bridges made improvement most urgent. A temporary in situ office collected data on the areas of movement that were most requested by future users. A network of paths was thus opened and led the place to be known as "The Braided Valley" because they criss-cross on both sides of the river, which were also replanted with autochthonous species of vegetation. Before reaching the walls of the channel and joining to cross the riverbed, the paths rise up in a Y-shape forming two footbridges resting on clusters of metal pillars which resemble tree trunks and give lightness to the structure.
Before completing the first phase, the new city council stopped work on the project it had inherited but did not embrace as its own. “The Braided Valley” has not been officially opened yet, although local residents have spontaneously made it theirs. With similar spontaneity, the riverside paths and bridges disregard the orthogonal nature of the urban layout and anticipate tracks which a pedestrian’s common sense would leave on a badly situated parterre or on the ground of a snowbound city. It is to be hoped that common sense will prevail and that work on this park, which already stitches together the neighbourhoods through which it passes and connects them with natural spaces to the north of the city of Elche, will soon proceed anew.
Developer.- Ayuntamiento de Elche
Authors.- Francisco Leiva Ivorra, Marta García Chico, Antoni Baile Jiménez, Prócoro del Real Baeza
Country.- Spain
Surface.- 115.000 m²
Cost.- 2.382.000 €
Project.- 2009
Work.- 2011
End of work.- 2013
AUTHORS
Grupo Aranea an Alicante-based multidisciplinary group working with artists, sociologists, landscape architects and biologists, was founded by the agronomist engineer Marta García Chico and the architect Francisco Leiva Ivorra in 1998. Among other awards, it won the 2010 FAD Prize for Architecture and the 2013 AR House Award offered by The Architectural Review. Also notable amongst its projects are the Caravaca Cultural Park in Múrcia and Ostrowiec Centre Cultural (Poland).
http://grupoaranea.net/blog/
