benoit bourd's proposal for costa del sprawl aims to reveal noble side of concrete

designed by french architect benoit bourd and called ‘suspended block concrete art center’, this project is part of costa del sprawl competition, an initiative by estudio esse. the contest is part of a wider research project and seeks designs which encourage and facilitate cultural exchange and integration between immigrant and native communities. located in spain’s costa del sol—an area that has been permanently transformed by the construction boom of the late 20th and early 21st century and its abrupt end with the financial crisis. this has led to many abandoned structures to remain on the periphery of the sprawl as if monuments to the boom and crash.

interior perspective

for the repurposing of one of these abandoned structures, benoit bourd has proposed a ‘concrete art center’ that reveals the noble, refined and natural side that concrete can offer. this ruin, symbol of our consumer society, becomes a great asset to illustrate the material’s advantages. blocks of concrete, designed as symbolic shapes with a flexible position, are suspended on the abandoned structure, fully conserved. the whole is covered by a rigorous canopy, which creates a scoring rhythm in the façade. the idea is to introduce people to concrete, to offer them a different vision on this material, to reconcile them in a sustainable way, proving that it can be sensitive, ecological and noble.

existing structure 

conceptual axonometry

section 

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edited by: juliana neira | designboom