Previous state
When the Spanish Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, and the Arquia Foundation chose Granada as the venue for the first TAC! Urban Architecture Festival, it launched an international competition for architects under the age of forty-five to design a temporary pavilion in the plaza del Humilladero. The square, a large triangle where paseo del Salón intersects with calle Carrera de la Virgen has, since the Middle Ages, traditionally been the arrival and departure point for visitors coming to the city from the La Vega region after crossing the Genil River. With the years, when the square became a venue for notable festivals and a must-see place, direct access from the bridge became more complicated. The square is a place with many pedestrians, but it lacks the appropriate conditions to prolong their visit, or for gatherings or social interaction, except during temporary events.
Aim of the intervention
The aim was to create a temporary pavilion that would address these shortcomings with a budget of 90,000 euros. A space was then designed to accommodate the cultural activities that were organised from 14 October to 14 November 2022. The criteria for selection were environmental integration, urban quality, spatial interest, architectural quality, application of principles of circular economy and use of sustainable materials, coherence of construction, and technical and economic viability. The winning project defined the pavilion in terms of the elementary operation of “containing AIR”, without any particular programme but as an open space that would be adaptable to the needs of the Festival, the city, and its inhabitants.
Description
The project used only three materials, with a constructive synthesis that revealed a form commitment to sustainability and the circular economy. It employed a system of rented scaffolding as a symbol of industrial modularity, with a 14-metre-high galvanised iron structure in the form of a parallelepiped covering an area of 236 square metres. This could be used after it was dismantled and left no trace of its existence in the square. The interior cover, harmonising light and shadow, was made of natural jute fabric, typical of the town and produced by craftspeople with local knowledge of the process. Made in Granada, this fabric was used in summer to provide shade in other public spaces. Finally, twenty-two blocks of stone from the local Sierra Elvira quarry, which functioned as weights to stabilise the structure and also as street furniture, were returned to the quarry after the pavilion was dismantled.
Assessment
The pavilion provided a meeting place offering shelter from the sun and was therefore well adapted to the hot climate of Granada. The form and materiality of the jute (in the shape of an inverted funnel with a skylight at the top) created effects of light and shadow that were reminiscent of the geometric patterns of Nasrid latticework, thus linking the pavilion with local traditions and architecture. Criticism of the usual waste in temporary events was easily refuted because the pavilion fostered real circularity of all the elements and left no footprint behind. Used for a month during the Festival, AIRE, was the venue for more than forty activities and had many visitors. The pavilion demonstrated its capacity for adaptation as a flexible urban facility in a complex public space.
[Last update: 23/07/2025]
