PARK IN PEGALAJAR | ariasrecalde taller de arquitectura

PUBLIC SPACE OF LA CHARCA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. PEGALAJAR, JAEN.

Water and its management are the main social and economic activity of Pegalajar, and as such they are part of its history and culture. This Water Culture has become a major defining trait, creating values that are distinguishing features of life in the town. This way of life, the behavior patterns of the townspeople as well as their values have to do with collective experiences that are linked to the different uses given to water.

The project area is a chain of public spaces that come together around the "Charca", which is a natural reservoir that irrigates Pegalajar's orchards. It is part of a system that comprises an aquifer, a spring, a reservoir, irrigation ditches and orchards, with the peculiarity that, at one point, this system was once on the outskirts of town and now it has been "engulfed by it", creating what is nowadays, a new "center" within the town.

By delimitating the public space that is the object of this design, we come to understand it as part of a system (aquifer, spring, reservoir, ditches, orchards) that is determined by the natural setting and the layout of the town, as well as its own urban structure: an axis that sits midway up the hill with three central focal points. That is why we use the term "marginal centrality."

The town's leisure activities revolve around the Charca and new uses and public spaces have been established along its edges. Within the aquifer-spring-reservoir system water is the strategic resource, the symbol of a culture that defines the layout of the Charca and becomes the element around which public space is organized: uses are distributed, itineraries are laid out and the materiality of the proposal is established.

The recovery of this public space is understood as a driving force of progress and a generator of wealth, hence it also offers support for future initiatives involving rural tourism, hospitality industries and economic activities linked to leisure and open space in order to make the most of the uniqueness of the place and what the proposal has to offer.

So, the Charca drives the economy of the primary sector (agriculture, orchards...), and by recovering traditional uses and complementing this with culture and leisure, promotes the local service sector.

Technically speaking, the proposal follows the parameters established by simple constructive means, using, for the most part, traditional materials (paving stones, setts, soft surfaces, landscaping with native plants...) while it also adapts to the place's specific conditions.

Land use is not changed, but public space is reorganized to introduce new uses that are compatible with it, while the existing roads are maintained, refurbishing some sections to give priority to pedestrians. The multipurpose character of certain spaces is kept, such as Plaza Autor Francisco Almagro, which functions as a parking area but also as a large open space where markets, fairs and sporting events can be organized.