from ephemeral pool to mobile library: a look at concéntrico's 9th edition projects

21 interventions landing at concéntrico 09 

From April 27th to May 2nd, 20203, in Logroño, Spain, Concéntrico presents an extensive program for its ninth edition, with 21 interventions, meetings, and activities involving the work of more than 60 professionals from 15 different nationalities. In its development, Concéntrico 09 is integrating numerous groups and entities promoting new collective practices in public space, from the local level: educational centers like IES Sagasta, IES Batalla de Clavijo, CEIP Las Gaunas, or social entities associated with Logroño Intercultural and the Rafael Azcona Library, among others.

‘PUL: Urban Pool Square in Logroño’ by  meii estudio, Clara Torregrosa, Gabriel Millán

 all images courtesy Concéntrico

Concéntrico 09 (see more here) extends to new areas of the city, widening the object of its interventions from east to west: from the Plaza sin Nombre in the neighborhood of Madre de Dios to the Cubo; also from north to south: from the river Ebro to the new station park. Locations and programs such as Cities Ahead with Goethe-Institut provide a constantly evolving listening to continue raising debates about the city. These shared practices extend the temporality of Concéntrico. Specifically, Hollmén Reuter Sandman’s Birdhouses intervention, which opened in mid-March, facilitates birds’ nesting in La Glorieta del Doctor Zubia and will coexist in the central park until the end of August.

Since 2015, the festival has carried out more than 100 urban installations, with the following new proposals landing at Concéntrico 09 in 2023: Barkow Leibinger, Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects, Oana Stănescu, Recetas Urbanas (Santiago Cirugeda + Alice Attout), Didier Fiúza Faustino, Os Espacialistas, Studio Ossidiana, Design With Company, Pool is Cool and Dallas, Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop, Marc Morro, Un parell d’arquitectes, Paloma Cañizares, meii estudio and Clara Torregrosa, Gabriel Millán, Jennyfher Alvarado and Alvaro Gonzalez, Daniel Hambly, Frantoio sociale and Hypereden, Catalystas Collective, Vanesa Peña and Carlos Herraiz, Escuela Superior de Diseño de La Rioja.

‘A Raised Table in the Landscape’ by Jennyfher Alvarado & Álvaro González

uncovering this year’s SELECTED projects 

PUL: URBAN POOL SQUARE IN LOGROÑO

team: meii estudio, Clara Torregrosa, Gabriel Millán 

location: Plaza Escuelas Trevijano

PUL is a new urban swimming pool in Logroño — versatile and where rules do not apply; what is sought instead is spontaneity and free appropriation of its interior space. This ephemeral pool will be located in the Plaza de las Escuelas Trevijano, integrating with the existing elements and surrounding a large central tree. The square and its urban furniture are rigid and have a defined functionality; they are designed for transit and brief stops, becoming an unfriendly space for social relations. The new urban swimming pool in Logroño aims to enclose a piece of the square to create a uniquely peaceful public space, a cocoon for leisure and care.

A RAISED TABLE IN THE LANDSCAPE

team: Jennyfher Alvarado, Álvaro González

location: Viña Lanciano

‘A red carpet transitions from the landscape to a domestic found space; behind the curtain will appear a raised table, where visitors can gather to share an experience through the senses and create links with the context. Recesses in the façade will reflect the movement of the interior. Still, without competing with the importance of the landscape, these views are framed with a subtle red ribbon, linking the ever-present context to the activity within. Smells permeate the interior of the space, delicate notes referring to the quality of the product and familiar past experiences around a table.’

‘A Raised Table in the Landscape’

BAYAN URBAN

architect: Daniel Hambly 

location: Parque Felipe VI

This proposal uses the site of Parque Felipe VI as an amphitheater and transport hub, taking advantage of the multiple infrastructure layers directly below and around the stage. Hambly proposes to create a van or accordion. Motion sensors located in the enclosure will drive the instrument’s motors, allowing air to pass through the flutes. Each note or chord will be assigned different types of movement. The natural rhythms of these movements will come together to create melodies and sounds that will become unique to that time and place.

‘Bayan Urban’ by Daniel Hambly

CANTIERE APERTO: A COLLECTIVE URBAN PRACTICE

team: Hypereden, Frantoio Sociale 

location: Paseo del Espolón

program: Cities Ahead / Goethe Institut 

Led by Milan-based Hypereden and Frantoio Sociale, this collective practice with local organizations promotes the collaborative construction of urban artifacts by demolishing and transforming waste materials. More importantly, it encourages local communities to act in public space, expressing their needs and dreams. In Logroño, the collective is carrying out its mission with the active participation, both in the design and construction phases, of a community of young skaters on the Paseo del Espolón, a central urban space where skateboarding and the collective experience of public space have been consolidated. ‘The objective will be, precisely during the days of the festival, to design and build a series of elements that, combined, will form a playful environment that expands the actions of the skater activity that already takes place in the square,’ notes the team.

‘Cantiere Aperto: A Collective Urban Practice’ by Hypereden & Frantoio Sociale

THE MOBILE LIBRARY OF WOMEN’S LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

studio: Catalystas Collective 

location: Biblioteca Rafael Azcona

program: Cities Ahead / Goethe Institut 

The mobile library is a process of valuing and enhancing the local knowledge of the citizens of Logroño. Based on local explorations of habits, rituals, and customs, the mobile library will travel around the city and temporarily activate different public spaces. By bringing together diverse knowledge, the Catalystas Collective engages in learning, exchange, and empowerment while opening up a platform for women to gather and express their thoughts and knowledge about the city.

LOGOMAQUIAS

team: Vanesa Peña, Carlos Herraiz

location: Paseo del Espolón

program: Cities Ahead / Goethe Institut 

Starting from two antagonistic experiences about stuttering (the fact of having it on the part of artist Carlos Herráiz and of not having it on the part of curator Vanesa Peña), the workshop titled ‘Logomaquias’ proposes ‘an artistic collaboration that uses the question of chewing gum as an aesthetic from which to start a reflection on the communicative disfluencies in contemporary society‘. More specifically, it will offer visitors a walk through Logroño, where the participants will collectivize their impressions about speech and communication.

‘Logomaquias’ by Vanesa Peña & Carlos Herraiz

discover all the participants at concéntrico 09

Beyond the six winning teams of Concéntrico 09, we walk you through the total pool of participants — starting with Design with Company‘s ‘Stone Wall Stand In’ at Plaza del Revellín. The project unfolds as a large billboard that represents and rewrites the city of Logroño. Like a paper souvenir cut to scale 1:1, the giant drawing brings to life the history and materiality of the Plaza. ‘A narrow sloping wall that invites you to discover places to hide, explore or simply rest and chat with others. The old and the new collide with the real and the representative to generate places for playful opportunities for participation and a unique perspective of the historic environment,’ comments the studio.

Next is the ‘Siluroño’ project by Pool is Cool & collectif dallas.  As part of a cross-cutting process ongoing for years, the team from Brussels will recover the Piovenefabi intervention of 2022 and install it at Parque del Ebro. ‘They have asked us to keep it dismantled because, as if it were a matryoshka, they are going to build a new intervention in 2023 with all the pieces from the last edition. In this way, the relevant color in a strawberry tone and its curved shapes will come back to life to inspire the new form: an imaginary fish of the river Ebro as it passes through Logroño, which will be a children’s playground with a great social spirit,’ writes the duo. 

‘Stone Wall Stand In’ by Design with Company

At Paseo del Espolón, Portugal-based Didier Fiúza Faustino will launch ‘Me Como el Mundo, configured as a mobile device that offers people a forum in public space to speak to a physical audience. ‘Climbing a staircase from backstage, anyone can come out into the light and play any role they want: guru, social activist, stand-up actor, singer, poet… The intervention underlines the importance of physical relationships and breaks with the illusion of fame that sustains the digital world,‘ shares the artist.

Meanwhile, Finnish architectural studio Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects spotlights sensitivity to the environment, materials, and landscape by re-inhabiting La Glorieta, the city’s central park. An analysis of the site and species research with local ornithologists results in an intervention incorporating 24 bird boxes to recover migrating birds from March onwards. The project deseasonalizes the Concéntrico proposals, as it will remain until August to facilitate nesting throughout the season. In addition, the studio will work with IES Sagasta and its Biology students on the most frequent species of birds and bats in the roundabout. The students will document each species, make observations and take photographs. 

‘Me Como el Mundo’ by Didier Fiúza Faustino

At Plaza de San Bartolomé, ‘The Garden of Intersections’ will come to life as a series of sandboxes designed by Rotterdam-based Studio Ossidiana. The project will then move on to the Las Gaunas school where, for two weeks in April, teachers will be carrying out different activities using the installation as a vehicle to talk about territory and pigments (the sandboxes incorporate different soils from La Rioja) and also about the city, as the intervention is reminiscent of heritage. This intervention ‘is a sum of spaces that speaks of territory, pigments, layers of history of a variable temporality. Poetic and evocative, the ensemble reformulates the heritage -almenas, minarets, arches, and windows- inviting to play in confusion between imagination and reality,‘ notes the studio.

On the other hand, like his work, furniture designer Marc Morro’s intervention proposes an honest language: an improvised tennis court in the middle of Logroño’s Town Hall square, Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Dubbed ‘Center Court, the project is a fleeting exercise that reimagines the more private sport of tennis courts amid a public space. ‘To put it in context, or rather out of context, the court is placed in the middle of a square made with a scaffolding structure, emphasizing its ephemeral and street-like character. A space for play, meeting, and decontextualization,’ explains Morro. 

Another eye-opening intervention will occur at the Plaza Sin Nombre, signed by French designer Camille Walala. Known for her large-scale interventions, Walala is inspired by community and collaboration and the power of color and design to transform atmospheres, elevate moods, and awaken positivity. Her proposal for Concéntrico 09, ‘Throwing Shade’, re-signifies the Plaza Sin Nombre, a place that has not been ‘baptized in the eastern part of the city, an area claimed by the neighborhood as a meeting hub for the neighborhood’s diverse culture.

In line with awakening spirits, ‘Camp la Leçon de Rome’ by Os Espacialistas is a poetic, architectural, and sculptural camp of a performative nature. The installation is defined by the five geometric figures of Le Corbusier’s ‘Lesson of Rome,’ transformed into tents installed in Plaza del Mercado, in light of its history and the recent memory of the political occupation that took place there in the form of gatherings. ‘Under the influence of the Camp style and Modulor measurements, we will witness the playful, physical, conceptual, and immaterial dialogue between the Cathedral of Santa María de La Redonda and the five pure geometric bodies proposed: the cylinder, the pyramid, the cube, the parallelepiped, and the sphere, with various programmatic characters,’ elaborates the team.

‘Throwing Shade’ by Camille Walala

At Patio del Coar, the ‘Silk Pavilion’ by Spanish designer Paloma Cañizare will take shape as the first project of reinforced fabrics, an investigation into the structural possibilities of textiles. ‘If we understand the structure of the fabric as the armature of a forging, stiffening it and folding it, we can achieve a self-supporting surface of extraordinary slenderness and lightness,’ notes Cañizare.

An ode to fruit, to the land, and to the people who help bring it to the table, to our lips, the next project is named ‘Fresa’ — inspired by and dedicated to the strawberry pickers and the one million seasonal agricultural workers throughout the EU. In the Plaza de Santa Ana, with the Church of Santa María de Palacio and the Children’s Park as a backdrop, a large strawberry by Romanian architect Oana Stanescu has been placed upside down. ‘The soft plywood exoskeleton contrasts with the smooth stone textures. A small opening beckons us to lean in to discover the strawberry-shaped interior: a soft red cocoon with rays of light in the shape of a seed. An introverted, rich, and peaceful space, oblivious to the outside world.’

‘Silk Pavilion’ by Paloma Cañizare

Returning to historical events, the Spanish duo Santiago Cirugeda and Alice Attout from Recetas Urbanas is bringing their project ‘La rebelión del Crazy Army’ to the surroundings of the IES Batalla de Clavijo Secondary School. The intervention unites all high school levels in a collective strategy that will attempt to ‘storm’ the center from the outside using walkways, Trojan horses, mobile towers, zip lines, etc. These joint constructions will be coordinated by different technicians, teachers, and advisors, who will collaborate in the process and the assembly, including some members of the Lakalle Association. ‘Thus, teenagers become the main actors and propose alternative ways of using public spaces in connection with the Batalla,‘ adds the studio.

Mirroring the PUL urban pool, ‘Fuente Urbana’ by Un Parell d’Arquitectes recovers the fountain as a symbol of urbanity. ‘The fountain was the last link in the art of domesticating water and bringing it into the city before it reached the houses’ tap. An architecture, recurrently lavish, which played a decisive role in the urban configuration and had the capacity to build a place for social encounters and relationships. An ephemeral fountain reconfigures the crossroads between the Plaza de San Agustín and Calle Portales, constructing an altarpiece where water, reflections, and sound stimulate the exercise of contemplation in the public space and alter the atmosphere of the place,’ the studio outlines. 

The last three Concéntrico 09 projects unfold as follows: the ‘Uylenspiegel’s car factory’ by Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop — a whimsical space that takes visitors back to childhood and play at Museo de La Rioja; ‘Supergráfica’, an installation designed by students of the ESDIR Supergraphic course, modifying an exterior space through a giant roof with the vocation of being infinite; and lastly, the ‘Tensegrity Späti’ concept by German studio Barkow Leibinger comes alive as ‘rigid linear elements float weightlessly in space held in tension by steel cables or rope. Seemingly defying gravity, these structures are configurable, lightweight, and in equilibrium; next to the access to Santiago Church, a sustainable prototype is proposed to generate a common space with a low impact on its development.’

‘Fresa’ by Oana Stanescu

‘Camp la Leçon de Rome’ by Os Espacialistas

1/5

ESDIR intervention

'Centre Court' by Marc Morro

'Siluroño' by Pool is Cool and collectif Dallas

'Fuente Urbana' by Un Parell d'Arquitectes

'Uylenspiegel's car factory' by Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop

project info:

name: Concéntrico 09 festival | @concentricofestival

location: Logroño, Spain 

running dates: April 27 – May 2, 2023 

pariticipants: Barkow Leibinger, Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects, Oana Stănescu, Recetas Urbanas (Santiago Cirugeda + Alice Attout), Didier Fiúza Faustino, Os Espacialistas, Studio Ossidiana, Design With Company, Pool is Cool + Dallas, Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop, Marc Morro, Un parell d´arquitectes, Paloma Cañizares, meii estudio + Clara Torregrosa, Gabriel Millán, Jennyfher Alvarado + Alvaro Gonzalez, Daniel Hambly, Frantoio sociale + Hypereden, Catalystas Collective, Vanesa Peña + Carlos Herraiz, Escuela Superior de Diseño de La Rioja.