AWARDS:
-2020 Competition for the new municipal market and parking in Almuñecar. Granada. Third prize
SITUATION: Avenida de Cala, Almuñécar (Granada). >>Open in GOOGLE MAPS
DATES: competition (2020)
CLIENT: Almuñécar City Council
ARCHITECTS: José Antonio Carbajal Navarro, Nicolás Carbajal Ballell and Rodrigo Carbajal Ballell
COLLABORATING ARCHITECTS: Fernando Moreno Humanes, José Anelo Romero, Juan Tuñón Espinosa and Lorena Tirador Díaz
This new municipal facility for Almuñecar which will gather a market, a retail area and two levels of parking basement, will occupy the place of the old market between Avenida de Cala, Avenida de Europa, Calle Sánchez Chaves and Callejón del Virgo and adjacent to Plaza de Kuwait, in the urban center of this coastal town. The plot is quite rectangular, and has a slope of about 2 meters between the northeast and the southwest corner.
The old building, with a market and two levels of parking, was demolished, keeping the foundation and concrete walls of the basement.
The project is organised with two basement levels for the parking and one level above ground for the market and retail area. The basement will occupy the whole plot, providing 276 parking spots. On the ground floor the building is aligned to Avenida de Cala, creating a free space adjacent to the soon pedestrianisated Avenida de Europa. In this way we put in relation the new public space with the pedestrianised section of the avenue and Plaza de Kuwait.
Over the parking we design a compact building in which the market stands out, whose organization and volume responds to the functional, lighting and ventilation requirements of this type of facility. The vertical circulation cores are placed in both extremes while the retail space is adjacent to the market, flanked by two passages and opened to the new public space. This arrangement allows the independent operation of each one of the uses, while easing accessibility from the surrounding urban space.
Our market proposal aims to maximize the number of corner stalls, highly appreciated by lessors. In addition, almost half of the stalls have a second counter open to the street.
The retail area, open to the new public space and surrounded by the requested flower kiosks, allows an easy subdivision into premises of different sizes, with the possibility of opening both to the square and to the market, increasing their possibilities.
Finally, it is worth highlighting the organisation of the parking basement, with two vehicle entry-exit ramps from the side streets, trying to minimise their impact on the pedestrian permeability between the urban space and the building while reducing operations to be carried out on the existing basement walls, in good condition.