Diseño para concurso público de una plaza cubierta en Zarautz, Gipuzkoa

Zarautz Covered Square

Site: Zarautz, Spain
Competition: 2014

It is increasingly common to find public spaces protected by covered structures. And it is no wonder, as these solutions allow inhabitants to enjoy and make better use of these recreational areas, being able to utilize them during the rainy and cold seasons as well as the hottest months of the year.

Diseño para concurso público de una plaza cubierta en Zarautz, Gipuzkoa

The project involves the creation and design of a cover for a playground located in Zarautz (a coastal town located 25 minutes from San Sebastián). Our architectural studio’s main objective has been the functionality of covering the plaza, without forgetting the importance of proper urban and landscape integration.

The economic criteria make us consider two options:

A simple structure, supported on the edges of the play area, covered with polycarbonate on the roof and side areas.
A relatively orderly main structure, where an organic mesh is placed, adapting to the tree edges, and as a covering and solar control material, hexagons of plant-colored polycarbonate that integrate perfectly when viewed from the upper floors of the surrounding houses. These hexagons will be hollowed out, if necessary, to allow the passage of tree trunks, whose tops will grow above the cover.

Clearly, we opted for the second option for the following reasons:

It is a lighter solution that will favor simpler foundations since we know that the soil in this area of Zarautz has a plastic structure with little resistance.
The integration is much greater both in the result of the cover and in the lateral view from the rest of the plaza, making this structure finer, blending better with the strong vegetation of this area, avoiding the architecture becoming a barrier to the landscape.
Finally, this is a standard model that could be extrapolated to other areas of the municipality. This allows us to consider the possibility of applying this solution to other future projects, which could generate a coherent visual identity in the area.

Diseño para concurso público de una plaza cubierta en Zarautz, Gipuzkoa