Under Roberto's Shadow

Under Roberto's Shadow is about an intervention in a building considered Heritage of cultural interest. Works carried out on it caused the worst environmental disaster in the Mediterranean. However, it highlight in its social aspect and industrial mining heritage. This project aims to recover the building giving it a new use to revitalize the village.

Although Sierra Minera has an unusual landscape, it has turned natural for the local population, despite being artificial and created by man. Lavadero Roberto is an identity symbol of the Portman's historical mining activity. Nature combines perfectly with this ephemeral landscape that change constantly due to weather factors. The project pretends to catalyze the balance between the town´s development and the conservation of the historic site, trying to return to the neighbors what they have claimed so much, “Reactivate Portman respecting its identity”. The intervention is based on 4 main actions: - To create a meeting point in Lavadero Roberto where enjoy by giving it a program and stablishing there the beginning of hiking routes to discover the surroundings. In the complex you can enjoy the Reminscence garden, picnic areas, and so on. - To design a promenade, a scenic walkway, a delicate structure under the decks created with the intention of flying over the industrial ruins. In this way, visitors will enjoy its essence and have a look into the past when walking on it. Likewise, it will be possible to contemplate the relationship between space and movement (the spatial experience through the journey). The projects' dynamic part is walking inside Roberto discovering its ins and outs, contemplating its forms and trying to discover the stories that its ruins have to teach. - To project 7 translucent boxes that hang from the deck and function as flower beds. Their substrates are different contaminated soils on which investigate to act on and to regenerate the bay. - To use nature at the north perimeter to fusion the complex and the mountain, creating a transition between public and private spaces. This transition is made with a light white steel structure on which a vertical garden grows inviting people to come into Roberto. In conclusion, go over Roberto is going across its history, when people stare at its walls´ patina can be transported to past times and remember it. The vegetation contributes to make the promenade different each time since nature is an active part of the project that makes architecture alive.