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Architects: Sarquella + Torres Arquitectes
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Photographs: Joan Guillamat
Text description provided by the architects. 58 springs have passed, with May bringing vibrant color to the Jewish district in Girona. The flowers blossom atop the old stones, refreshing the city.
This year, our proposal lies within the yard of the house Sambola, its floral history dripping from the stones of its boundary walls.
The intervention is an implementation of the traditional elements that are part of Girona's collective imagination:
The flies, narcissistic saviors of the French siege of Girona. - The curtains that flank many doors, unforgiving barriers for the flies, their musical chimes welcoming us. - The lavender that has scented the Mediterranean lands since humans first dwelt there.
At 13, Carrer de la Força, flies circle relentlessly but the golden curtains will not let them pass. They filter the view of the interior, varying its transparency according to the position of the viewer. The continuous sound of the curtain as people pass through them fuses with whispers about what they believe they glimpse and what they suspect to smell. Beyond the vibrant limits, the curious eyes discover the blooming lavender fields, which keep the pesky insects away.
The curtains are placed to redirect the gaze to the architectural elements of the courtyard. It becomes a place of discovery and recovery, a vibrant backdrop, an improvised photocall, a bucolic setting, a place for inhabitation, and the games of children.
And finally, getting out, you glimpse up in the door a history lesson. OMNES SOLUM FORTI PATRIA EST (THE WHOLE EARTH IS HOME FOR THE STRONG MEN) Poet Ovidi (43aC-17dC) from his exile in Constantia
