After 2013 edition, this summer I got back on the road with BMX rider Simone Barraco to search for undiscovered and rideable architectures in Spain for Red Bull Design Quest 2.0. Anthony Perrin and Courage Adams joined as as well, while Sergio Layos and Viki Gomez visited us in a couple of stages.
We avoided all the famous street spots in Barcelona, and instead we headed north to rainy Bilbao. Wandering through the suburbs, we found the Galindez Slopes, an urban improvement by ACXT architects. The embankment is shaped by using inclined planes of different materials, triangular planes formed by different materials: the existing rock, vegetation of different colours, concret. The architects wanted to create connecting elements between the top and bottom levels to lessen the impact of the embankment as a physical barrier in the city; doing so, they created a perfect spot for BMX!
After a couple of days we decided we had enough of Basque wet weather and we drove all the way to the south coast; direction Benidorm, aka the Miami of the Mediterranean Sea: the town is a popular summer attraction outfitted with high rise buildings. Yet, we wanted to ride the new promenade built by OAB studio: the upper level and its colored tiles and the bottom curves declining to the sandy beach.
Bus stations are often utilitarian buildings, but at Casar de Cáceres, architect Justo Garcia Rubio created a highly expressive structure inspired by local vernacular architecture, and which is visually and formally different from its surroundings: historically, Casar de Cáceres houses are of a simple vaulted form, constructed from a single material.
The last stop for our road trip was Seville and its newly built Metropol Parasol, by architects Jürgen Mayer H and Arup. The destruction of the Mercado de la Encarnacion in Seville left a huge void in the urban character of the city center which remained unfilled for over thirty years. The market enriched the city with life, and with its absence, the vitality of the Plaza de la Encarnacion was soon challenged by the negative implications of economic downturn. Now the massive timber structure (which is one of the largest timber structures built in the world) draws residents and visitors back to the city center as its striking aesthetic provides a variety of markets and restaurants bounded by the dynamic shape of the parasols. And from now on, it will become a mecca for BMX riders as well!
You will find more pictures of the road trip, as long as a video report by Docks Video, on 47mag.
