Transforming the old factory SATI into a community hub


Transforming the old factory SATI into a community hub

This project for the re-use of the abandoned industrial building SATI, overseen by the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Alpens town hall, encouraged participatory methodologies and social integration. The project is related to a building that has been part of the life of Alpens for more than 40 years. This container of experiences has become part of the landscape and the memories of the citizens who have worked there. The purpose was to rethink this place, set the criteria and define the new uses and management model.  

This project explored co-housing scenarios for the elderly and artists, co-management of green spaces and a shared kitchen, adaptation of the traditional Catalan “era” (threshing floor) into the present context, and creation of co-working and learning spaces for everyone. From the earliest stages of the project, intergenerational participation was essential. It involved workshops with children, interviews with entities and building games, and defining spaces together with inhabitants. 

This participatory planning project is an example of an integrated approach to problem-solving regarding the adaptive reuse of industrial buildings in order to provide economic, cultural, and social benefits to the community and regenerate the area sustainably. Not only it helped to rethink and respect the environment and public space, but it also set in motion a participatory dynamic, a future of dialogue and discussion to an even more participatory and responsible community. 

Place

Alpens

[273 inhabitants]

Scale

Public space

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Duration

5 months [2018]

Promoters

Barcelona Provincial Council

Alpens City Council

 

Team

*estel (Arnau Boix, Konstantina

Chrysostomou, Alba Domínguez,

Marc Deu)

 

MonoD estudio

 

Collaborators

Residents of Alpens, 

Educational community, 

Local entities (sports, cultural,

social)

Presentation

Check the project at prezi

Gender-based urban planning handbook

Gender-based urban planning handbook

Gender-Based Urban Planning Handbook is a tool to be used in order to put in the center, people’s daily life and promote an inclusive urban model that can incorporate gender diversity, age, or origin, in favor of building a safe and without barriers equitable city. 

The support tasks for the realization of the handbook had, as a result, an understandable and easy-to-use tool. The *estel team gave its support on writing, interpretation, and representation of data, and publication’s layout design.

Place

Barcelona

[1,620,343 inhabitants]

Scale of the project

Municipal

Public space

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Duration

10 months [2018-2019]

Promoter

Barcelona Regional

 

Team

Ana Paricio (Authorship)

 

*estel (Alba Domínguez i

Ferrer, Konstantina

Chrysostomou, Arnau

Boix i Pla)

 

Collaborators

Municipality of Barcelona

Handbook

View and download the

handbook

Premsa

Read more about the Handbook

at Municipality of Barcelona

Temporary activation of urban voids​


Temporary activation of urban voids

The crisis caused a slowdown in the usual way to “produce” the physical space of the cities, creating an area with voids waiting to develop (in the broadest sense of the word, not just referring to urban development). Given these circumstances, it became necessary to put into motion urban strategies and tactics so to activate the territorial resources available to the cities.

From this perspective, the Diputació de Barcelona proposed a framework of stable collaboration with the municipal entities in order to support them with strategies, tools, and proposals for the management of spaces that had remained empty in the municipalities of the province. Given the existence of these spaces in Santa Margarida de Montbui pending to build, urbanize or reconvert with new uses, and the reluctance on how to address this problem, the municipality asked the Diputación for its collaboration. And it is in this framework, the project was carried out by the team *estel

The project sought to identify the empty spaces in the municipality to avoid degradation and to propose new temporary uses able to cover local social needs. Specifically, those activities were requested in the past by the population but did not have a municipal response either to municipal facilities or existing public spaces.

A collaborative diagnosis was made on the plots identified both from citizens and the council’s technical-administrative team. Some of these plots, near the river Anoia, have an industrial value present in the built heritage. Others, near the neighborhood of Pi, follow the history of the tanneries of the area and a marked tradition of self-organization. From this diagnosis, a process of revitalization of the urban space was proposed through the synergies that were discovered in the territory, consisting of the creation of protocols of activation of the empty spaces.

Place

Santa Margarida de Montbui

[9825 inhabitants]

Scale of the project

Municipal

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Duration

8 months [2015-2016]

Promoter

Barcelona Provincial Council

Municipality of Santa

Margarida de Montbui

 

Team

*estel  (Arnau Boix, Mireia Peris,

Raimon Soler, Laia Llonch)

Presentation

Check the presentation at Prezi

Study

Read the full report at Issuu

Plaza Lluís Companys

Plaza Lluís Companys

The square (plaza) Lluís Companys and its surroundings are part of the interstitial spaces network of the multifamily housing blocks of Montornès Nord neighborhood, a residential area that dates from the ’60s.

The project takes place in an area currently occupied by a car park, optimizing its distribution and recovering public space for the neighbors. The main strategy is to give continuity to the existing green zone through native vegetation, boosting, in this way, the biodiversity of the environment. In addition, the square is equipped with urban furniture so to increase the quality of comfort both in the areas of stay, play, and picnic.

In addition, the project puts special emphasis on improving the accessibility and connectivity of this space with street Llibertat and the rest of adjacent spaces, because due to the marked topography there are currently several areas where there can be found blind spaces or from where it is difficult to reach there on foot.

Place

Montornès del Vallès

[16,263  inhabitants]

Scale of the project

Public space

Type of project

Public space design

Duration

3 months [2018]

Promoter

Muicipality of Montornès

del Vallès

 

Team

*estel  (Arnau Boix, Marc Deu,

Alba Domínguez, Konstantina 

Chrysostomou)

 

Alarona Tècnicse

Rethinking public space from a youth perspective ​

Rethinking public space from a youth perspective

The participatory process “Youth and Public Space” is framed within the context of the PAM (Municipal Action Plan) of the city council of Barcelona, from which are defined the strategic lines that must be applied in the policies promoted by the administration.

The purpose of the project is to know how public space is used by young people and the problems that are encountered in this urban context. To do this, the study is approached from a double perspective; On the one hand, a series of representative reference spaces in Barcelona are identified and analyzed separately and on the other hand, the topic is approached on a city scale. 

To do this, we use the RPA methodology (Research – Participation – Action), taking youth collectives linked to each one of the spaces to prepare both the diagnosis and the proposals for improvement. Apart from that, an important part of the work is also focused on the professionals of the youth sector, who give their expert and direct vision on the process. 

During the period that the project lasts, are used tools for collaborative work such as open workshops, questionnaires, group interviews, observation and “mapping” of urban dynamics… materials that adapt to each one of the study areas based on their specific characteristics.

The results obtained were a diagnosis of each one of the spaces and proposals linked to each one of them. In addition,  a city vision on public spaces and youth was obtained through the collection of experiences and the contribution of the professionals of the sector.

Place

Barcelona

[1,620,343 inhabitants]

Scale of the project

Municipal

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Duration

6 months [2016]

Promoters

Barcelona City Council,

Department of Youth,

Department of Services for

Children, Youth and the Elderly

 

Team

 *estel  (Arnau Boix, Mireia

Peris, Marc Deu, Konstantina

Chrysostomou, Esteve Boix)

 

Monodestudio, Urbanins

 

Collaborated

Barcelona Youth,

Agents and youth collectives

Informe

Read the full report on issuu

Premsa

Read more about the project at

Ajuntament – Seu electrònica

Participatory process for the land use masterplan of Sentmenat

Participatory process for the land use masterplan of Sentmenat

The participatory process for Santmenat’s POUM (Land Use Plan) was developed in parallel with the redaction of the urban planning document, with the aim to enrich it and help with the validation of the made decisions.

The project addresses the challenge of transforming the Land Use Masterplan (PGOU) into an opportunity so that the different actors who structure society to collaborate and define the future of their city. Among others, they face issues about housing, economic activity, public space and facilities, natural spaces and infrastructures on their territory. 

The process is structured in four consecutive and cumulative phases. During the first one, the civic participation program is established, the communication plan is drawn up and the agents’ map is formed. The latter consists of entities and associations which later are involved in citizen debates, citizens and municipal technical-political team. 

During the second phase, the analysis and diagnosis take place, which through open sessions and group interviews is produced radiography of the city’s current state to define the challenges that need to be addressed. At the same time, following the evolution of the POUM Advance document, participants work on the identified strategic lines turning them into proposals, in order to be included afterwards in the normative document. 

Finally, the last phase, the one of follow-up, serves to communicate to citizens the results and final conclusions, redact the documentation that is incorporated in POUM and set up the bases that allow participants to follow up to the next stages of the process.

Place

Sentmenat

[8,957 inhabitants]

Scale of the project

Municipal

Type of project

Citizen cooperation

Duration

6 months [2016]

Promoter

City Hall of Sentmenat 

Barcelona Provincial Council

 

Team

*estel  (Arnau Boix, Marc

Deu, Llaia Llonch)

 

Collaborated

Neighbors of Sentmenat

Local entities and

associations

Informe

Read the full report at issuu

Premsa

Read more about the project at

Ajuntament – Seu electrònica

Integral action plan for the public spaces of Olesa

Integral action plan for the public spaces of Olesa

The municipal will to promote local employment has been the approach´s basis of this project, which has begun with a first analysis of the municipality’s public spaces network. The diagnosis of the identified public spaces has been carried out based on the observation of users’ activity, and the evaluation of the dynamics. 

The spaces of action identified as priorities were the neighborhood of Sant Bernat, the Plaça Dr. Fleming, and the connection between Rambla and Plaça de l’Estatut with Plaça de l’Oli. The specific proposals for the renovation of these public spaces were based on the Municipal Brigade’s technical capabilities and on the incorporation of people from Local Employment Plans.

In this way, urban improvements of a certain magnitude could be addressed in a short term, especially in the neighborhood of Sant Bernat, where Plaça Tercio Nostra Senyora has been revived, and its connections with the adjacent neighborhoods have been improved, in close collaboration with the Estel* team with Municipal Brigade team.

The rest of the priority proposals for the urban improvement have been subsequently developed by the technical services of the City Council, following the guidelines of the “Public spaces of Olesa” strategic document carried out by the Estel* team.

Place

Olesa de Montserrat

[23.779 inhabitants]

Scale of the project

Municipal

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Public space design

Duration

6 months [2015]

Promoter

Municipality of Olesa de 

Montserrat

 

Team

*estel (Arnau Boix, Mireia Peris,

Claudia Villazon, Marta Ferrer )

Presentation

Check the presentation at prezi

Study

Read the full report at issuu