Description

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The Project named “Spatial Collectivities” concerns an experimental installation in an “urban void” that has been created in 2009 in the historical centre of the city of Madrid. This space itself and its characteristics became the inspiration for the project. The area that today is known as “El Campo de la Cebada”, namely, “The Barley Field’’, has always been the centre of the La Latina neighbourhood, a meeting point, a place ideal for communication and exchange of ideas. Today, the spontaneous response of the citizens to an unusual situation resulting from the collapse of the country’s construction industry and the indifference of the top-down urban planning tactics of property developers, resulted in an “occupation” of the public space and a new use, as a space free and open to everyone. 

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The square has always been a centre of social interaction of the working class and simultaneously one of the oldest markets of Madrid. The twentieth first century brought the onset of the crisis and turned the square into a vacant, sunken area of 5,500 square metres, surrounded by a fence. An “Urban Void” that was soon occupied by the locals creating what is now known as “El Campo de la Cebada”: an open public space for everyone.

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My intention, therefore, was to give a spatial expression to what the citizens describe as:
“a chaos that gets organised at the last minute”
“a permanent contradiction”
“a multifunctional mix”
“a thousand spaces generated by mobility”

 

Part of the design process was the formal experimentations with physical and digital models that affected and influenced each other leading to the final result. In the digital part, specifically, the experiment consisted elements observed in swarm of birds or animals like ants. A system of agents programmed to follow specific rules, go after targets and avoid obstacles resulted in simulations creating spatial qualities. During this process, the designer as an observer of the results of the simulations of natural systems, that have inherent the spatial element, adapts and deploys them in an architectural context according to their intentions the limitations of the actual site. 
 

Robotic systems are 3d printing sand-binder mix on site distributed on an existing metal frame. The structure is eco friendly and the final result incorporates randomness.

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The collective environment that is generated can be described by the words complexity, diversity, heterogeneity, plurality, irregularity, notions of great significance for this design project. The experimental installation that is the main theme of the project “Spatial Collectivities” in the urban void of the “Campo de la Cebada”, is the result of the combined effort of all the components from which the area is composed. The installation was designed by means of non-linear processes and alternative design tools in order to interfere with the existing environment without causing permanent changes to it. The installation is temporary and is characterised by adaptability and alteration.
 

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