"Carmen´s mourning. Landscape of refuge and consolation"

The project proposes to absorb the Alcalá de Henares cemetery and landfill with an infrastructure ascending from the city for the reflection and consolation of those who live with Mourning. Both will cease to be places for decomposition and will be able to be colonized by the living beings of the Natural Park and city surroundings.

The project tells us from the perspective of Carmen, taken from the well-known novel by Miguel Delibes, Cinco horas con Mario, the great impact that the Alcalá landfill has generated for 35 years on those who visited the cemetery and how now, after being sealed, negatively affects the ecosystem of the Natural Park on which it is located. Both facilities have in common the “waste” treatment that is stored there. We can say that after death the body is treated as waste and after sealing it, behaves as such, remaining inert and generating gases and fluids during its decomposition. Therefore, the cemetery would be considered a dump if it was only used for the deposit of bodies without establishing decent spaces in which to be buried or visited. But what differentiates us from a Human residue? What remains of human beings? We live with mourning and memories, a healing process that we must go through in order to accept a loss. An ascending transit from Alcalá is proposed, a memorable path in which to find solace in the fauna and flora that shelters the user from the city to the landfill, passing through the cemetery and the Henares Natural Park. From the action of walking, continuity is given to disintegrated elements of the landscape, intervening in dilapidated pre-existing heritage, such as the Zulema Mill; supporting on abandoned pre-existences, such as the Zulema Bridge; or proposing environmental revitalizations such as the liberation of the transversal barriers of the river that prevent the natural cycles of the ecosystem or the recovery of its course taking advantage of the water accumulated in the quarries located on the banks of the Henares. The return of this water will be the flow that will unite the project, and taking advantage of the unevenness will give life to the fauna and flora of the whole area. Its sound will accompany mourners like Carmen on their way, generating personal, intimate and sensory spaces that transform over time. As a result, the feeling of care and the desire for contemplation and intimacy in contact with the grave in these forgotten places of the city are increased.