Remodelling and pedestrianisation of Plaza de la Merced. Huelva

REMODELING AND PEDESTRIANIZATION OF PLAZA DE LA MERCED. HUELVA

In our Mediterranean culture, squares are part of the stage of life. Our visual memory sometimes tries to keep the scenery of the moments of our little history lived there unchanged forever, so that we can remain young, at least in our memory. Perhaps for this reason, one of the most complicated projects an architect can face is the reform of a historic public space, as is the case here, half a century after its last comprehensive intervention. But cities, like the people who inhabit them, are organisms in continuous change and their settings must adapt to new times. Otherwise, new life will not find adequate support in them and will move to the periphery. The Huelva City Council is therefore grateful for its courageous commitment to the renovation of the main urban spaces of the city through architectural competitions. The previous design of the square contained serious deficiencies in accessibility to the interior of the square and excessive division into small spaces with large slopes. But, above all, its main deficiency consisted in turning its back on the Cathedral-University SCIENCE. The objectives of the competition were precisely to solve all these problems, pedestrianising three of its side streets, achieving continuity and universal accessibility on the slopes of the entire area and achieving a large central space free of objects and facing the façade of the Cathedral-University, which would thus see its identity and historical role in the area reinforced. The Plaza de la Merced constitutes an outstanding urban, road, topographic and cultural enclave in the city, as it is located right where the topography of the Huelva hill system comes into contact with the flat area of ​​the city and its old marshes, filled in times past. And so, the proposed green areas are presented as mounds that recall the peculiar topography of the city, while a whole system of lines and drainage surfaces for collecting rainwater recall the city's fluvial and maritime character. The proposal attempts to physically and visually link a series of limited and welcoming spaces, of a small scale and varied colours (rooms), with a large empty central space towards which they all converge, which has the Cathedral-University B.I.C. as a backdrop, and which makes possible any configuration, more or less ephemeral, with a large public presence. Today, it is more a question of equipping than of designing spaces, of providing them with the necessary support facilities that allow for a multitude of uses: sports, cultural, festive, musical, political or Christmas. In short, the square becomes a metaphor for the theatre of daily life in the city, where the central circle would be the stalls, the five perimeter rooms the upper boxes, the large empty space the stage where the action takes place and, finally, the Cathedral and the University the incomparable backdrop to the scene.