Productive Memories

Team Point of View

Memories tell us about the previous configuration of the territory. Areas that acquire a particular intensity, as if a sort of conscience of the territory was emerging out of them, which patiently awaits for the upcoming productive logic to develop the local economy activity.
“Productive Memories” assumes that the productive recovery of Oliva goes through the reactivation of this territorial identity, the consolidation of its differences, and the enhancement of the natural continuities, understood as a model of production. Strategies that replace addiction by purification, by taking off the environment everything that is not its own. A simultaneous intervention covering three scales of action in different phases. Three memories, reinterpreted in a contemporary code, and which introduce three new productive models, which in reality, have always been there.

Jury Point of View

This project stands out for its extraordinarily solvent analysis and the quality of the proposals at all scales. Also appreciated, the rigour of the plan’s implementation phases, which contemplate the complexity of the issues to be resolved. It also highlighted the approach to water management, soil regeneration and the reintroduction of agricultural uses. The formal solution respects the rules of industrial architecture configuration, and successfully manages to make the new buildings and the public space that articulate, adapt naturally to the site.

2021-2023
Following the competition, a meeting was held with the municipal team, the mayor, and the local architect to present their main ideas and overall strategy for the Els Rajolars site.
The city also organized a workshop with all the winning teams, and some of the other teams' ideas were incorporated into the final project.
In April 2022, the team signed a contract to develop the urban development master plan for the Els Rajolars neighborhood, divided into three phases:
1- Analysis of the current state (delivered in November 2022)
2- Participatory phase via a citizen workshop and an online survey (November 2022)
3- Development of a master plan based on the information collected in phases 1 and 2 (delivered in summer 2023).

The urban renewal strategy focuses primarily on protecting the urban area from environmental risks, preserving the built heritage, and integrating new productive programs.
The project is structured around three areas of work, each with its own main objectives:
1. Els Rajolars: Productive and Social - The productive program to be implemented in the area must function as an "urban catalyst" capable of attracting activities and population to Els Rajolars in order to facilitate local economic recovery and improve urban quality.
2. Els Rajolars: Structured and Recognizable - The urban renewal of Els Rajolars must guarantee optimal urban density, a variety of typologies and a mix of uses, a system of green spaces and open spaces promoting sustainable urban mobility, and integrate industrial components of heritage interest.
3. Els Rajolars: Integrated and Resilient - The planning of a new urban development must take into account the adaptation of the site to its natural environment, where the integration of ecosystems and resilience to natural factors are essential.