The project proposes the arrangement of the surface of Passeig Garcia Fària between Bilbao and Josep Pla Streets.
Before 1992, with the construction of the Ronda Litoral, the Passeig Garcia Fària Avenue was shaped with a double carriageway section with a central partition. On the sea side, the construction of a car park attached to the retaining wall of the Ronda left its roof pending urbanisation.
The new road scheme has moved traffic on the sea side of Garcia Fària to the other side of the Ronda and has extended Bac de Roda and Selva de Mar streets in the form of a bridge over the Ronda Litoral. The road addition to the central trunk of the Ronda located at the height of Josep Pla has been moved to the intersection of Selva de Mar with Garcia Fària, causing the demolition of part of the existing car park. The new Diagonal-Mar super-island delivers a new grade to Garcia Fària that has forced the longitudinal profile of this street between Selva de Mar and Josep Pla to be modified.
All this means that the area of action has been defined as the existing surface between the current average and the limit of the Ronda Litoral, plus the mountain road of the section between Selva de Mar and Josep Pla.
The resulting piece to be developed is a strip about 40 m wide and approximately 1.3 km long, divided into three strips by the road that crosses the Ronda Litoral. This strip is divided at the same time into two sub-strips: the coverage of the car park facing the Ronda and the remaining space between the current partition and the wall of the car park. The project starts from this consideration and consolidates the division by giving shape to a paved promenade over the car park and a landscaped strip.
The permissible overloads of the existing car park (1,000 kg/m2) and the future maintenance of the same have led to the decision to abandon the possibility of landscaping and building on its roof. That is why we have thought of a two-colour asphalt pavement as the protagonist of this strip intended mainly for bicycle traffic, fitness circuits, jogging and other similar activities. We think that emphasising the large dimension of this space, by stripping it of overlapping elements, reinforces one of its primary qualities.
For the rest of the promenade, a linear garden organised through trapezoidal pieces of green is proposed that allow permeability between the pedestrian crossings and the esplanade above the parking lot. The sewing of both areas is done thanks to the interruptions of the flower beds and the elevated platforms, overlapping with the car park roof, which act as viewpoints over the sea. Some of the planted areas rise above the natural level, offering lawns that also extend towards the beach.
The organisation of the walk had to take into account the crossing of vehicles towards the access ramps to the car parks, which are far from the new pavement line. These crossings are made in the form of a gap between the vegetation. To mitigate the fracture caused by the ramps, small slabs are built that, in the form of a bridge, cross them at their central point. The arrival at the new Bac de Roda and Selva de Mar bridges requires the promenade to be recreated at these points to connect it with the new levels.
The cross section has been designed with slopes of between 1.5% and 2% towards the Garcia Fària road. The need to allow drainage and the new width of the promenade force the re-creating of the levels above the current car park and, consequently, the over-elevation of the existing railing, which is done by means of a prefabricated piece of concrete that fits into the original wall.
The planting has been planned with species appropriate to the unique situation of the promenade: first line of sea, without built elements to protect it from its influence. Organised in strips, it also helps to understand the whole promenade as a unit.
Basically, there are two types of parterres. Those that flow towards Passeig Garcia Fària are planted in bands ordered by vegetation height: the first two are grasses of different heights and finally they are located in the tamarisks. The double-sloped parterres are covered with grass on the side facing the sea and planted with a mass of white sand on the opposite side. In some strategic areas, small groves of mulberry trees appear on ivy upholstery, which become areas of shade.
Palm trees are planted as single trees in groups of two or three. Mimosas and lavender plantations complete the landscaping of the promenade. The boundary with the paved road is consolidated with a linear parterre that contains the existing palm trees and the oleander plantation also existing in the current partition is thickened.
The lighting is solved with a pattern of PRIM-type staves that organises the entire area on both sides of the Ronda Litoral. Special care has been taken in leveling the crowning height of the staves regardless of the variable topography of the anchor points.