A Fortress by the Sea

The project addresses two concerns: the battle between the agricultural and urban landscapes, and the dignifying and legitimising of the disparate and shared identities present within the diverse community of Roquetas de Mar.

Sat where the plastic seas threaten to spill over into the urban fabric of Roquetas de Mar, the site is perfectly placed to make a statement about the town’s priorities and ambitions moving forward. In a place with such a varied and complex array of backgrounds, the challenge of creating a place that represents the community as a whole, whilst simultaneously speaking to each of the many experiences and identities, is at the centre of our design.

The urban design for the Fortress by the Sea centres on a public plaza, which connects a community centre, a residential block and the surrounding buildings. The proposal consolidates the edge of the urban and residential area in a few ways: the focus and orientation of the residential and community buildings is aimed purposefully inwards towards the new plaza. The massive base of the community centre also serves as a protection of the civic and cultural life that will take place within.

On top of this solid platform are light, whimsical objects, which will also be placed along the frontier between the urban and agricultural territories. The aim of these structures is to create a visually identifiable vocabulary that stretches far beyond the project site.

An overall composition of highly considered elements, from circulation spaces to vegetation, our design aims to bring dignity and legitimacy to a complex and diverse liminal community, allowing the local people to take the architecture and landscaping in their own hands and shape it in their image.

As with the Community Centre, the residential block aims to overlap and question commonly received architectural conventions, such as the role of circulation spaces. These spaces are designed in a way that allows residents to experiment with them, therefore promoting communication between neighbours and facilitating familiarity.

The residential block is arranged in six apartment clusters accessed via three cylindrical cores, additional stairs and a network of platforms, terraces, patios and walkways which connect the apartments and act as semi-public areas that offer a variation of communal spaces with indefinite function. These suspended terraces are left open to encourage the neighbours to make their own use: for plants, games, impromptu social gatherings, or even the occasional BBQ or the watching of a football match; inviting the residents to appropriate them and give them a function.

The focal object in these spaces is the outdoor water tap, which provides a place for the residents to freshen up, source water for their patio plants, or to become the area around which children come to play, under the supervision of the neighbours. This supervision is afforded by the differing sizes and placement of the terraces, walkways and balconies: never the same on consecutive floors, to not only offer views across the block but also allow as much natural light to penetrate the building.

The block offers a series of 1 bed and 2 bed apartments as well as a studio on each floor. The composition of the open-plan apartments ensures that no room is without natural light, and that at least the living room, sometimes one bedroom too, has access to the balcony.

The cylinders for circulation are topped by small outdoor roof spaces shaded by whimsical objects, clad in tiles made by the neighbours themselves. The openings reference traditional tall windows of Spanish residential architecture and feature simple roll-up blinds for shading. The ground floor is left open with suggested areas for the commercial units.