Aigua Sana
Urban Project selected for the
MODEL. Festival d’Arquitectures de Barcelona 2022.
with Gonzalo Martin
Aigua Sana is an experimental installation that explores how public spaces could be if get the water back as an architectural and social tool.
Photos by Lluc Miralles
Analogic works by Gonzalo Martin
Check it out the project thru the Model.Festival d’Arquitectures website!
Every day we realise that the city as it is designed does not work. It drives us out, it attacks us.
Cities should respond to our friendly and organic nature. We are not made of iron, we are fragile; soft fruits that need a supportive and friendly envi- ronment to survive.
Cities are home to people, not just industrial production.
A city can be a garden of buildings that celebrate life, not solid structures or the grease of streets and railways.
From a purely environmental sustainability point of view, cities must become permeable and porous again. Allow the water to flow and absorb the soil without overheating the sun. Cities need to return to the earth and water instead of hard asphalt.
Comparison of urban green and water spaces in different european cities – Data by European Environment AgencyWe propose a new approach to the urban model whose main aim is to place people at the center of decision-making, that takes into account a variety of experiences that happens every single day in the cities. This new urban model is embodied in a city of care, which is seen as a place that cares about us and our environment and allows us to care about ourselves and others.
Aigua Sana will be a new method to think about the design process when making cities, that re- discovers the dynamic spirit of water, offering new uses and functions in public spaces that guaran- tee the sustainability of the urban model and the ecological connection of the spot.
As a new way to perceive water, perception and collective imagination are restored, reconnecting with nature.
Creative concept – introducing water as a building materialOur goal is to strengthen and respect the identity
of a place that has lost its origins and in that way,
try to make a step back and heal it.
In connection with the acceptance of new clima- tic conditions, our generation must recuperate consideration and empathy for the landscape, the space belonging to nature.
Whether we confine our environment by shaping
it to our will, leave it to its natural processes or exploit it to satisfy our needs, Aigua Sana emer- ges as an alternative for the community, introdu- cing water as a building material that constructs nature in our urban development, accepting that there is an alternative to thick cities, providing new uses and functions that guarantee the ecological connectivity of the whole territory.
In connection with the acceptance of new clima- tic conditions, our generation must recuperate consideration and empathy for the landscape, the space belonging to nature.
Whether we confine our environment by shaping
it to our will, leave it to its natural processes or exploit it to satisfy our needs, Aigua Sana emer- ges as an alternative for the community, introdu- cing water as a building material that constructs nature in our urban development, accepting that there is an alternative to thick cities, providing new uses and functions that guarantee the ecological connectivity of the whole territory.
work in progress
This ephemeral intervention creates a new image of the city which strengthens the idea that other contemporary cities could be possible.
