Public sector construction projects are usualy accompanied by an equally public heated dispute. The more un usual the design, the louder the debate. This epithet can certainly be said to apply to Parc de la Mar.
Fourteen years have passed since the inauguration of the
park, and the erstwhile heated dis- cussions that once surrounded it have
long been replaced by Others. These days, feelings tend to be aroused by more
harmless issues, such as the stace of the park and whether to equip it wich
one or the other new type of bench.
It can thus be said that the park has overcome the difficulties experienced
in its early days. Indeed, it has found the acceptance and appreciation of
the inhabitants of Palma, and is not only a favourite backdrop for wedding
photos but also for walks taken by famous guests such as Richard Rogers and
Bill Clinton.
With regards to our design, it should be mentioned in advance chat we-that is, the architects of the Equipo Zócalo office-managed to save the open spaces from the worst-case fate of becoming a conglomerate of bus parking spaces and chil- dren's swings. lf we are to take credit, it should not be for what we did but for what we did not do. As so often, less is more.
The situacion we were presented with was a difficult one, predominated as it was by a motor-way running between the coast and the historic ensemble of the cathedral and the Palacio de la Almudaina. This meant that we needed to adopt a clear stance in our work. We decided thac nothing should be allowed to spoil the view of the cathedral and the palace, and so we sought the peaceful co-existence of all the elements of the design as a means of enabling them to mediate between the motorway and the cathedral, overcoming a leap in time of two centuries in the process. While this mediatory or intermediate space that makes up the park was assigned the function of a stage, it also had to subordinate itself to the overall context. Trees, benches and lights were arranged so as not to distract the eye from the main sight - the cathedral. A sculpture by Guinovart, on the other hand, directs attention directly to its apse.
Naturally, the existing components introduced differing qualities. The expressway, for example, provides an incomparable view of the historic ensemble, almost as if one were gliding along the coast on a ship. This led us to consider a fascinating idea, namely of returning the sea to its former boundaries close to the cathedral, and we would have loved to have removed the reclaimed land between the cathedral and the coast. As can be imagined, such concepts did not meet with understanding and acceptance, particularly in Palma in 1977.
I also recall a campaign that took place while the park was being built, in which the newspapers maintained that it would become a sea of concrete. Luckily, I was able to counter the ugly mood at the last minute by stating that while concrete doesn't grow over the course of time, trees certainly do.
The island of Majorca, which has 600,000 in- habitants, is visited by 8,000,000 tourists a year. Parc de la Mar presents all these people with an appropriate setting for what is probably the most beautiful urban silhouette in the whole of the Mediterranean.
Of the overall Parc de la Mar concept, only the first construction stage, namely the area between the cathedral and the motorway, was exe- cuted. The second stage, which concerns the section between the motorway and the sea, was never completed, with the result that the connecting strip that runs beneath the whole length of the expressway is reduced to a mere declaration ofintent.
I have always liked to think that the first stage of our design pleased the mayor of Palma so much that he didn't see any necessity to execute the second. For our part, it goes without saying that finding a solution for the open space between the motorway and the historical cityscape was the far more intriguing task of the two.
Parc de la Mar; Palma de Mallorca
Client: City of Palma de Ma/lorca
Architects: Equipo Zócalo (Pere Nicolau Bover; Angel Morado, Emilio
Nadal, Emilio Cené, Santiago Bó)
Engineers: Ignacio Cisneros, Mateo Castelló
Competition: 1977, first prize of the jury chaired by Josep Lluis Sert
Planning: 1977 -1979
Construction: 1982 -1984
Costs: ESP 200 million
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