Universal Mountains: 1,700 meters high. An isolated area, far from the urban center of Albarracín and with permanent snow four months per year, a condition that hinders its use.
The aim is to organize a touristic area by the source of the River Tagus, where today we only find a pompous statue that points to it. The brief requires breakout spaces, an area for water and another area for wood, parking and a services building. To this end, the scheme proposes a series of activities (for winter and summer) to liven up the place with programs that combine sports, culture and leisure, thus diversifying the options and attracting different kinds of users.
This project contemplates the construction of semiopen structures that ensure an easy maintenance, are energetically self-sufficient and can be closed down in a few years. A complementary group of small divertimentoes or follies
(beached submarine, variable playhouse, water labyrinth, etc.) and a signaletic project round off the complex.
In the water area, the river is understood as a complete entity, and this is why a “geographic homothety” is applied along the Tagus with a length of 911 meters. The follies are determined by local conditions (like the wind) but towards the interior they explain those of the Tagus (global wind maps), treating it as a complete geographic entity. All of them are built with “sensitive” skins that vibrate to show how the place varies; thus, elements such as temperature or humidity become building materials.
The ephemeral rises as a value, as a revelation of the moment in which one experiences that landscape and departs from an everlasting gaze. The idea is to capture the moment and understand the permanent features of the place as an addition of recorded instants.
Área paisajística junto al nacimiento del Tajo. Localización: Montes Universales, Teruel. Concurso-Proyecto: 2006-2008. Promotor: Comarca de Albarracín; Confederación Hidrográfica del Tajo. Arquitecto: Ángel Verdasco. Colaboradores: Juan José Jiménez, aparejador; Berta González, estudiante; Jaime López, estudiante. Superficie de actuación: 15,3 Ha. Superficie construida: 1200 m2. Presupuesto: 1.502.530 euros.