Wednesday 16 March 2011

Vinaròs Microcoasts



Taking first prize in a Spanish competition in 2007 with this innovative project, Barcelona-based Guillart Architects created these striking wooden platforms based around hexagons, allowing local residents of Vinaròs to use the coastline around their town more freely.
Roughly halfway between Barcelona and Valencia, Vinaròs has a sparkling sea and a beautiful coast filled with coves, promontories and inlets, but instead of any welcoming beaches there's only rough and unforgiving rock strata. Not ideal for a Sunday picnic with the family.
Choosing the standout spots close to the ocean, Guillart Architects set simple hexagonal grids into the rock, which were then covered with timber panels which can be positioned flat, partially or fully folded, creating their own 'microtopographies'. Stunning as pieces of sculpture in their own right, these platforms were quickly embraced by the locals whose sunbathing activities had for years been a jagged and painful experience.















Photographs © Nuria Diaz



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