[Location] Lalín, Galicia, Spain
[Client] Lalín town hall
[Area] 13 822 m2
[Project start] 2012
[Construction stage I] 2013
[description]
Due to its location, this Project has the potential to become a reference space for social interaction and community activities in Lalín. The proposal picks up on the municipality’s building strong circular and cylindrical shapes and extends that design language to ‘plaza de Galicia’ and the building surroundings.
The intervention is composed of two distinct spaces: the town hall’s surrounding and plaza de Galicia. They have very different uses but can be understood as a whole through the use of the same design vocabulary, namely circular shapes and the use of the same species of vegetation.
Town hall’s surrounding:
This area is designed to be of visual support for the architecture. It is composed of circular planters embed in the lawn with colourful herbaceous plants and trees that dress up the architecture and create interesting viewpoints.
Things like the search for geometric harmony, colour, texture and seasonal variation were taken into account in the design to establish a special dialog with the building through the reflexions produced by the facades.
Plaza de Galicia
This area is intended to have an intense and diverse human usage. For this reason the space is composed of several elements and zones that favour different usages. The central flat surface is the largest space and is where the more active interactions and activities will take place. This main area is adjacent to a linear walkway that borders and serves as an access to the surrounding buildings. The division between these two zones is made by yet another zone that connects and interacts with both of them and is composed of circular lawn mounds, wood paths and planting to generate a calmer environment.
The mounds besides the visual interest will generate different situations that will appeal to people. The different inclinations, sun and visual exposure supported by benches and tables as well as a children’s play area will allow the enjoyment of the space in a variety of ways.
Between the lawn mounds there is also a shallow pool that will reflect the sky when still but will also have water jets that can be activated in the summer for the enjoyment of the young while refreshing the environment. It can also be drained of water to function as a paved area according to the activities planned at each moment in the plaza.
The project is being implemented in stages, and works for the first stage have already started.