Plaça Major - Public Space. Heritage, Housing and Urban Life

The Plaça Major is both the geographical and symbolic heart of Olot. It is defined by simple houses, which take on value as a whole. The project aims to regenerate this public space, highlighting heritage, rehabilitating façades and reactivating vacant homes. With the community, a reurbanitzation project is dismissed, and investment is made in the buildings. Thus, a process is launched that aims to achieve full occupancy of the homes. It includes a combination of tools such as a rehabilitation project linked to local tradition, an Urban Improvement Plan and a conditional subsidy program.

Before the intervention most buildings had structural and constructive pathologies, with one-third of the residences standing empty. In this way, the square serves as a reflection about the challenges facing the town’s old quarter. The deterioration of the square live and atmosphere could not be reversed with a conventional reurbanitzation project. By consensus, it was discarded in favour of allocating the funds to the buildings and ensuring their full occupancy. Thus, a collaborative process was initiated that included historical research, crossed data mapping, a rehabilitation project, a shop improvement project, an Urban Improvement Plan -which establishes a three-year deadline for owners to complete the work- and a subsidy program for 90% of the rehabilitation costs, conditional on the renovation and mobilization of empty homes within a four-year period. This is a comprehensive project, from the community to the construction, including the project and urban planning.

Sustainability, understood from the basis, begins with replacing the commission for new paving with the rehabilitation of the facades. The project, promoted by the owners and 90% subsidized by the city council, was carried out by a single contractor. Obsolete elements on the facades were first removed. The main pathologies -balconies, cornices, cladding, terraces, and roofs- were rehabilitated based on the recommendations from the Recovery and Study of Architectural Tradition Group (GRETA). The color scheme continues the local tradition of ennobling facades with paint, influenced by Olot Art School since the late 18th century. The patterns of each building emerge from historical research based on permits, photos, and paintings. The colors are defined based on the Olot Color Plan and the results of stratigraphic studies. Meanwhile, this process has led to the creation of a working group committed to maintain the square and organize events that strengthen community ties and urban live.