We are working on the limit: in the place where historically the city turns into farmlands. An enclave that has been kept unchanged since the origins of the Convent of Saint Francisco. The site proposed for the competition is a place which has always been empty, which has only been occasionally occupied as a vegetable garden for the Convent, as shown on Torriani’s early plans, and more recently as an area destined to military use, but its characteristic emptiness has always persisted.
The city of La Laguna is World Heritage for its urban planning morphology, which makes it into one of the first models for cities without walls.
Our proposal considers the urban emptiness surrounding the Convent of Saint Francisco as a historical asset to be protected. A place recognizable for its emptiness within the urban morphology of the city of La Laguna. We must not only preserve what is built in our heritage, but also, as in this case, what is not built.
We do not want an impressive building or an urban landmark, but rather to maintain the emptiness that has persisted until the present. A building which emerges as a result of a historical process that started with the vegetable gardens of the Convent of Saint Francisco. A project with straight forward logic: to protect this urban emptiness.
Urban emptiness. We propose building around the present site limits, soits interior remains free. A variable bay which is adapted to the urban surrounding area and the program. Building the border to free the interior. And thus, making the urban emptiness into a public space related to the Faculty of Education.
Our proposal occupies 50% of the site. The limit: the wall-vegetable plot. The building is structured as a ‘wall’, as a recreation of La Laguna fences.
A wall adapted to the geometric conditions of the surroundings. But itis not just a wall, it is an equipped space: a double façade with a layer of vegetation in its interior.
The city of La Laguna is World Heritage for its urban planning morphology, which makes it into one of the first models for cities without walls.
Our proposal considers the urban emptiness surrounding the Convent of Saint Francisco as a historical asset to be protected. A place recognizable for its emptiness within the urban morphology of the city of La Laguna. We must not only preserve what is built in our heritage, but also, as in this case, what is not built.
We do not want an impressive building or an urban landmark, but rather to maintain the emptiness that has persisted until the present. A building which emerges as a result of a historical process that started with the vegetable gardens of the Convent of Saint Francisco. A project with straight forward logic: to protect this urban emptiness.
Urban emptiness. We propose building around the present site limits, soits interior remains free. A variable bay which is adapted to the urban surrounding area and the program. Building the border to free the interior. And thus, making the urban emptiness into a public space related to the Faculty of Education.
Our proposal occupies 50% of the site. The limit: the wall-vegetable plot. The building is structured as a ‘wall’, as a recreation of La Laguna fences.
A wall adapted to the geometric conditions of the surroundings. But itis not just a wall, it is an equipped space: a double façade with a layer of vegetation in its interior.
