In 2002, the city administration decided to launch the urban renewal project for the Sants railway corridor. Having ruled out the option of burying the railway corridor, it was decided to confine it within a light and transparent box for a large part of the layout, the roof of which had to be transformed into an 800 metre-long elevated and landscaped walkway.
The support structure of the building/container is made up of prefabricated concrete pieces in a diagonal sequence that takes the form of a large Warren beam that evokes the old railway bridges, leaving large empty triangles suitable for glazing.
The roof of the building is raised between 4 and 12 metres with respect to the surrounding streets and, consequently, its gardens become a viewpoint over the city and are structured on the basis of two linear routes: one on the north side of the roof, very shaded by trees, and another on the south side, permanently sunny. The intermediate space between both paths is configured as the backbone of the gardens based on the configuration of a complex artificial topography with a high density of trees and a rich planting of shrubby and ground cover vegetation, selected based on a highly selective colour palette. The elevations presented by the topography, reinforced by the density and strategic position of the masses of trees, favour the creation of areas in which the stroller loses the sensation of being inside the city and generates that of being immersed in a natural environment.
Faced with the impossibility of burying the access roads to Sants Station (six by Renfe and two by Metro), the construction of a kind of envelope is being considered which, from the perspective of architecture and keeping it on the surface, solves the problem that this railway infrastructure has produced in the Sants neighbourhood.
The main objectives that this project addresses are summarised in:
1. The practical soundproofing of the railway corridor.
2. The improvement of the neighbourhood's internal connections (pedestrian and road), both in the north-south and east-west direction.
3. The transformation of the roof into a large public space, a green corridor, connecting Plaça de Sants and Hospitalet.
4. The remodeling of the Mercat Nou metro station.
5. The rehabilitation of the spaces attached to the roof.
6. Giving architectural quality to an infrastructural work by treating it like a building.
The result is a light and transparent envelope which avoids the noise pollution produced by the train but allows its vision as it has been usual since its implementation. Likewise, the project improves local and metropolitan connectivity (metro station) as well as the quality of the attached public spaces and marks the beginning of a green corridor on its roof which, in the long run, will have a development of 5km, from Sants Station in Barcelona to Can Mercader Park in Cornellà.
Area of action: 6Ha (700ml)
