Mirador del Palmeral de Elche | Beatriz Ramo

The Design of an Oxymoron.
Thousands of words have been written about the influence of the current economic crisis on the business of construction. However, we think that this event has accelerated the birth of a new form of architectural thinking that, when applied to architectural production, will generate intelligent and substantial ideas, and leave behind the sensationalistic architecture of quick consumption. We believe more than ever that strategies, rather than shapes, are the only valid answers to the demands of the city today.
The Mayor of Elche organized the competition with the requirement that the project should “provide the city with an EMBLEMATIC element to contemplate and promote the Palmeral of Elche” (from competition brief). This raised the challenge of designing a humble icon, which is a real oxymoron. How to design an icon with the purpose of deviating attention towards something else?
In our careers as architects the competition for the Mirador del Palmeral was first chance we have had to create an emblem for the city where the landscape plays a crucial role, and where the admiration of this landscape is the raison d'être of the icon.
Moreover, in this period of financial collapse and extreme preoccupation with sustainability, it would be hypocritical to close our eyes and produce another icon like all the previous ones. Let’s take this chance to think deeply; to focus our intelligence on a strategy rather than on the egocentric and frozen architecture (icon) so characteristic of the past few years.
The cultural landscape of palms that constitute the Palmeral of Elche dates back to the 10th century, when much of the Iberian Peninsula was Arab. This great patchwork of agricultural plots (huertos) was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the year 2000. The palm grove extends over approximately half of the area of the city. Due to the loss of its original use, it is becoming more difficult to integrate the Palmeral into city life. Apart from some huertos that were transformed in parks (losing their initial configuration in the process) they remain empty and are deteriorating. Most of the Palmeral, mainly the most authentic parts, passes unnoticed to inhabitants and tourists, who misunderstand that the real value of the palm grove is not in the palm itself but in the ordered system of its plantation. There is not a single viewpoint in the city where the huertos system of palms can be seen and understood. The highest public point is the tower of the Basilica, but from there the Palmeral is mistakenly understood to be a random forest of trees.
Within certain precautions that apply to acting on a World Heritage Site, UNESCO supports interventions that enhance the universal value of the site. We believe that by building this viewpoint, for the first time in Elche, tourists and inhabitants will be able to understand the Palmeral as a system of huertos, and recognise its strong presence in the city. Although the intervention should not eclipse or even compete with the importance of the Palmeral, it should be significant enough to attract tourism and regenerate the economy of the City.
So, we searched for an atemporal emblem; intelligent and flexible; capable of fulfilling these requirements within a budget of €10 million. We need an imaginative solution.
We propose a wheel for Elche. The wheel is a strategy. The wheel is resistant to fashion, style, and time. Its assembly is completely reversible and therefore does not have any permanent impact at the points where it touches the ground. As the wheel does not consume the total budget, we can also invest in the creation of adjacent public spaces. Moreover, with money made by selling tickets for the wheel, it is possible to recover the initial investment in less than three years. The wheel is an intelligent and rational structure; representative and beautiful, powerful and transparent.