DON BENITO´S PATIO

2013

Team point of view
The project proposes improvement based on No Construction, Minimization, Reuse and Dismantling, with a global long-haul project. Acting through small sequenced interventions on a large localized scale and giving priority to investment in the municipality’s typical pre-existing values and structures, the project seeks to recover and promote the grid of voids, public spaces and patios.
No construction of new buildings; Minimization of barriers to accessibility, road traffic in the centre of the village and unnecessary signage and street furniture; Reuse of existing buildings for public use, revision of voids, empty plots and urban remnants, preparing them for public use; and Dismantling of buildings in poor condition or other elements that create a visual or physical barrier between public spaces.

Jury point of view
The project provides a sensitive municipal-scale analysis and proposes alternatives to increasing density on the competition site. Drawing on mechanisms that respect local realities, it suggests a new interpretation of the city and new itineraries, which emphasise its identity and its legacy. The proposal could be defined as fieldwork with minimal, temporally sequenced operations and a high priority on pedestrian routes.

2014
After the competition, the project was presented, with the support of the Extremadura Region, to Don Benito´s municipality who rejected it as it was not integrated new parking in the centre as requested.

2016-2018
After three years and the complete rejection of the project in Don Benito, the Extremadura Region, finding the concept innovating, transferred the team on another city, Guadalupe, where they have developed an accessibility urban plan. Even if the context was completely different, the team has been able to use their methodology and tools and tested them for this study in Guadalupe.
The plan has been submitted and approved. It will be implemented in different steps according to the town needs, priorities and money available. The municipality will be the one, through public tenders, to choose the implementing actors for the plan.