PARC DEL MOLINET | Carmen Fiol Costa

The project grew out of a master plan for Sector Esperit Sant which is located on the periphery of Northeastern Barcelona. The area was void; an emptiness arising out of its location as “in between” space between three municipalities, at this time undergoing urban erosion. The theory was to develop a multi-functional social condenser that could invert these processes. The functions for the area were pre-designed by the Masterplan: to include parks, sports facilities, schools, and a circulation system with new connections for traffic and pedestrians. As the site for Parc del Molinet provided an interesting topography, with the only trees around and views to the city of Barcelona. The concept for the park hinged on taking advantage of these givens. The lay-out is based on the geometry of the spiral, which links all the episodes of the park. Starting at the belvedere it runs through the amphitheaters which were already existing. The design can be understood in three different parts. The first being the defining of edges, making links and giving access to pedestrians. The second part is the densest portion of the park and the highest position in reference to the surrounding roads and was designed as a sequence of “episodes” ultimately leading to the belvedere. The third part of the park are the amphitheaters and the design was a matter of superimposing a geometry on the landscape following the traces of the existing amphitheaters.