Access to the Palmetum

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

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Access to the Palmetum

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

Firm

Jorge Díaz Estudio

Type

Landscape + Planning › Public Park Urban Green Space

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2023

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

BUDGET

$50K - 100K

The Palmetum Botanical Garden of Santa Cruz has a very peculiar history, whose creation posed a challenge that lasted more than twenty years. The Park we know today is built on a mountain of garbage, on land reclaimed from the sea, which served as the city's landfill during the 1970s. In 1983, the landfill was permanently closed, leaving a 40-meter-high mountain battered by the wind.

Since 1996, efforts have been made to transform a completely degraded space into a place dedicated to nature, which now boasts around 3,000 species of plants from tropical and subtropical climates worldwide, as well as a rich variety of birds and insects.

In 2021, Palmetum announced a competition to provide new facilities for the park with specific interventions in three sectors. The consortium Jorge Díaz Estudio – Equipo Olivares won two out of the three proposals submitted.

This intervention is located at the park's entrance, serving as the access point for visitors, maintenance vehicles, administrative staff heading to the office area, and the elevator providing an accessible route.

Previously, the level difference was addressed by an adapted ramp, a winding and insufficient path for the number of visitors at peak times, which also impeded access for maintenance trucks.

The project aims to solve the existing level difference through a single inclined plane with an accessible slope, respecting the existing vegetation and introducing new urban furniture elements to create a wide and pleasant space from which to start the park tour.