VICTORIA KENT

SQUARE

Rehabilitation of Victoria Kent Square, Barcelona.

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The first project was executed in 1996.

 

The square was built because of an urban void of considerable dimensions between Bac de Roda and Concili de Trento street intersection, in which there was a large parking lot in the interior of the island. This led to the development of this project, designed as new topography and taking advantage of part of the land extracted from the Diagonal Mar area. The pavement is a continuous carpet of grass and concrete, with touches of yellow, which configure different areas children's play areas.

 

The second rehabilitation project was planned preliminary for 2016 and executed in 2018. It was not executed. 

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Poetic description; Mar-Blava:

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A large blue canvas is spread over a small part of the neighborhood, for peace and play, for young and old.

 

Crossroads, mix of activities, plurality of people and generations. The pavement of a bluish gray or grayish blue qualifies the different areas with a small change in tonality, without losing continuity, also the concrete wall is dressed with the same fabric. The trees and bushes give heat and aroma to the environment, as green sponges soften the unevenness and provide natural smells in contrast to the adjacent streets. A staircase invites you to join the square from a lower level. And, turning the retaining wall, we see a writing by Victoria Kent that recites "The human, which is as big as the universe and as small as its Components."

 

Children and young people.

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The child plays safely near his mother, imagining that he is the inhabitant of a great castle, in fact, he is in a great game, protected by a colorful closure and a pavement of intense blue and soft touch, the older brother plays with a ball with two more children, dreaming of being a future Messi.

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Further on, under a magnificent leftover, a couple rests, remembering that 60 years ago they came to the city with great desire to work and were able to buy a small apartment in that same neighborhood. Now they can enjoy a small oasis of peace, with a space full of life activities, but with quiet and peaceful areas within the populated neighborhood. Other retirees enjoy the smell of aromatic plants in large sloping flower beds which separate the areas at different levels.

 

On another level, a group of young people talks about sports, about a future full of illusions, and a lonely person reads the newspaper; People walk along the large blue canvas, enjoying a variety of pedestrians who walk non-stop through this place, surrounded by Mediterranean aromatic plants, which give aroma and color, hiding the unevenness of the ground and separating the different areas.

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Afternoon comes, the doors of the school open and a flood of boys and girls come out, parents and families calmly waiting inside the square. The lights are turned on and the blue canvas intensifies under the skylights. Some lovers enjoy a few seconds of privacy in a space surrounded by trees, with their eyes on the bushes in the background. Some leaves fall, announcing the arrival of autumn, the square begins to empty, the artificial light intensifies and gives clarity to the space. Despite the dark night, the colors fade a little, but the visibility is total, there are no hidden corners or dead-end roads, the square is not large, but it welcomes in its background blue all kinds of activities, citizens and spaces; such as a small lake, colorful meadow, a space for rest, play and be at peace, full of life, like a small blue sea in the middle of the grid.

 

Barcelona, ​​November 2016.