The Seville 24/7 center, proposed by Ayrat Khusnutdinov & Zhang Liheng, adopts the famous Spanish traditions of street life. Their project would create a retreat from the harsh sun of Andalucia, Spain and extend the street life to 24 hours of the day and 7 days of the week. Seville 24/7 is not only about holiday or cultural side of Seville, but more importantly, everyday human interaction. More images and architects’ description after the break.
People would come here to visit a children playground, library, grocery store, night club, eat tapas, meet friends, etc. Our proposal would manifest the vibrancy of civic life in the city: it would be a stage that exposes the most interesting thing – life. The sinuous surfaces of the bridge create waves which would invite people to sit on them and watch passersby. In this way we propose spaces that would encourage different behavioral patterns – watch and be watched. As in the theory of human social interaction in physics particles with opposite charges attract each other and create a magnet – here these two patterns would create a magnet for people.
The different characters of the bridge’s two layers reflect its wide appeal. The green layer above creates a heaven from the noise in the city – a piece of nature in the city’s context. The thick layer of earth with grass and bushes on it would radiate freshness under it, providing a generous shadow for the layer under it. The cafes, shopping areas, and exhibition spaces inside of this layer provide additional facets to the wide palette of activities of the project. The lower layer of the bridge is a bustling hub with nonstop street performances, street vendors, cafes and everything a public street of a modern city can offer.
The bridge is anchored by two major public hubs on the both sides of the river. The building of the médiathèque is one of them, its cantilevering structure signals the presence of this public venue in the city. The existing building of the tobacco factory is the other anchor, we propose to renovate and reconfigure it, creating a generous ground level piazza and introducing a 450 seats auditorium into the building. Integrating the existing building into our program we create a mix of old and new urban fabrics, which is characteristic of this area where medieval and modern Seville meets.
Seville 24/7 Center Proposal / Ayrat Khusnutdinov & Zhang Liheng originally appeared on ArchDaily, the most visited architecture website on 12 Dec 2012.
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