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Architects: Contxto Arquitectura
- Area: 12888 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Luis Díaz Díaz
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Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Adobe, Quadro (Outdoor pavements)
Text description provided by the architects. The square is located in the urban epicentre of Collado Villalba and it is pivotal for the public use of the municipality. However, it was a rigid space detached from its surroundings due to the road traffic circulation and the perimeter parking, as well as its lack of uses and its harsh design. The square was a mere asphalt terrace devoted to hosting the weekly market, containing almost no green or rest areas.
The principal aim of the remodeling project of the square was to transform this urban void, which was isolated and not very permeable, into a freer, open and multifunctional space, where the citizen becomes the subject of the action.
This involves a process of humanisation of the place, in which the pedestrian is favoured over the car, and the paved surface is reduced in order to accommodate larger green areas. Such green areas are not conceived as a mere decorative element, but hold a direct relation with what has been built.
Both the vegetation and the incorporation of new uses, such as the playground, the dry fountain, the rest areas, etc. are the premises around which this project revolves. To provide the open space with content and to encourage a welcoming feeling through the zoning is prioritised.
The limits are diluted in the new Plaza de los Belgas, giving way to transitional paths and spaces which uses are interrelated, in order to achieve the square's total integration into the urban and social context of Collado Villalba.
