The Copera’s Garden, a Modern Oasis in an Industrial Landscape

 

The Copera’s Garden – is a scenic space within an industrial landscape. Located in the Copera neighborhood of Granada, Spain, the garden provides a much-needed green oasis for residents and visitors alike. The project incorporates a variety of different plants and trees, as well as seating areas and walking paths.

Architizer chatted with Tomás García Píriz from TOMÁS GARCÍA PÍRIZ STUDIO to learn more about this project.

Architizer: What inspired the initial concept for your design?

Tomás García Píriz: The industrial location itself becomes the main reference that organizes the proposal. On the one hand, the fertile agricultural void of the rural environment of La Vega in the city of Granada where the periphery is shown through its other “cities”: dotted and unstructured urban developments, agricultural infrastructures, contemporary ruins of abandoned farms, shopping centers and, of course, the industrial parks. On the other hand, the language of the industrial areas where the proposal is located, where materials and techniques from the industrial field are displaced to build a musical infrastructure halfway between city and countryside: sprayed concrete, thermal insulation of facades, prefabricated elements, metal reinforcements, sheets of formwork or parking pavements are resignified when associated with vines, trees and plants

This project won in the 10th Annual A+Awards! What do you believe are the standout components that made your project win?

Possibly, what most often attracts the attention of the project is the shocking encounter between the idea of a garden and the, a priori, harsh industrial environment in which it is found. The contrast between both worlds produces a surprising place, a synthetic hybrid landscape, between the natural and the artificial where industrial materials are intermingled with those from the agricultural world.

What was the greatest design challenge you faced during the project, and how did you navigate it?

This answer here is closely related to the previous question. The biggest challenge facing the project was precisely the production of a friendly, attractive and comfortable place inside a harsh industrial park. The idea of producing a garden as a meeting place for the enjoyment of music appears immediately since there were trees planted on the plot. Having this clear, the architecture appears alone, as an elevated element that forms an interior patio, a crater, in which to isolate yourself from the noisy exterior space. A protected space that is thus delimited by a dark wall that underlines the presence of the nearby vegetation and of the mountain and the sky in the distance.

How did the context of your project — environmental, social or cultural — influence your design?

The special context, as we said at the beginning, would become the main material of the project, not only from a conceptual point of view but also literally. In fact, in another order, as aspects to highlight of the proposal would be to place the project as a local resource management process from its very construction phase. The building establishes a strict protocol of KM0 in the choice of materials and agents, going to the industrial producers of the same industrial park where the intervention site is located. The project thus recycles everything found on the site from different scales of action: from the fences, and existing trees in the same intervention plot to systems, materials, companies and construction agents of the nearby environment.

What is your favorite detail in the project and why?

I would say the “wall” that surrounds and delimits the intervention. An element that absorbs a pre-existing fence and that is presented with its marvelous sprayed concrete finish. This element clearly expresses the particular fusion of the vocabulary of the garden and that of the periphery polygon that is carried out in this project. The contrast that it establishes with the garden for which it acts as a backdrop that enhances the green of the vegetation or how its texture changes throughout the day and night make this element one of the main protagonists of the performance.

How important was sustainability as a design criteria as you worked on this project? 

Very important. Somehow the sustainable strategies implemented in this proposal have been hinted at throughout the interview. On the one hand, there would be the idea of building the garden as a new green space within the industrial estate. On the other, the use of nearby material means, immediately close, building a particular material catalog linked specifically to the location in question. Finally we would have attention to the pre-existing that would lead to recycling almost all the pre-existing elements (trees, planters, the previous fencing, etc…).

In what ways did you collaborate with others, and were there any team members or skills that were essential in bringing this Award winning project to life?

Especially important would be my collaboration with Elisa Enríquez de Luna Múñoz, directly responsible for the license project with the City Council. The important creative role played by young architects such as Nicolás Martínez Rueda Rocío López Berenguer would also be fundamental. Fernando Álvarez de Cienfuegos, designer, would complete the proposal by introducing overlapping graphic codes that end up closing the project at the image level. Fernando Alda (photographer) and Adrian Nieto Maesso (Video) would manage to capture in a suggestive way the special atmosphere produced by the building and its change throughout the day.

Were any parts of the project dramatically altered from conception to construction, and if so, why?

Surprisingly, it is not common in all projects, the proposal has remained unchanged from the first sketches to its final execution. This has to do with the trust and commitment of the clients, Jesus and Yeyes, in the project. Their parallel work has been essential for the success of the process.

How have your clients responded to the finished project?

They are happy. It has not been an easy process and less in the condition in which the order is produced. It must be taken into account that the Coper`s Garden is an architectural response to a need as a result of the global impact of Covid 19 on the nightlife industry, especially in the field of concert halls whose business depends on capacity. In this sense, the project reflects the ability of architecture to act at the request of society in a reactive way, exploring new avenues of opportunity in times of crisis. This is a space born in times of pandemic to propose a new model of outdoor cultural stage infrastructure in a place never thought for that use. The proposed project reinvents the business of the “Sala Industrial Copera”. Today this decision has allowed it to survive as a company and has turned the Garden into its main claim within its wide musical offer.

What key lesson did you learn in the process of conceiving the project?

This project clearly expresses this very interesting idea raised by Alison and Peter Smithson: “as we found”. A phrase that refers us to the fact that on many occasions the key to the project resides in what is already in the context of action, so the role of the architect is not so much to “invent” as to “transform”.

How do you believe this project represents you or your firm as a whole?

The Coperás Garden clearly expresses a very present idea in the office of understanding architecture as landscape, where concepts and scales are intermingled and displaced between both dimensions.

How has being the recipient of an A+Award evoked positive responses from others?

The prestige that comes from being part of the list awarded by A+ Award is a recognition that makes visible an activity carried out in the periphery, reinforcing the focus of the work developed by the office throughout these years.

Team members

Elisa Enríquez de Luna Muñoz (ER7 Arquitectos) / Nicolás Martínez Rueda (Student) / Rocío López Berenguer (Architect) / Yuri Espadas Heras (Student) / Fernando Álvarez de Cienfuegos (Graphic Design); Miguel Ángel Jiménez Dengra (Structure), Fernando Alda (Photographer), Adrian Nieto Maesso (Video)

Consultants

Bauen Construcciones / Pladur Edifika / José Sanchez Plantas Verde que te quiero verde Viveros Millán / Mechape/ Berbel Porcel

Products and Materials

Sprayed Concrete / Steel / Aquapanel

For more on the Copera’s Garden, please visit the in-depth project page on Architizer.

The Copera’s Garden Gallery