A luminescent concrete path designed by Batlle i Roig Arquitectes to tour a degraded former mining area in the municipality of Igualada, near Barcelona, has been awarded the title of Landscape of the Year 2018. WAF.
The proposal designed by Batlle i Roig Arquitectes It forms part of the overall Igualada Green Ring project, which aims to create a network of pedestrian and cycle routes in the form of a green belt around the perimeter of the city. The natural area through which the path runs was severely degraded due to its industrial use, having been the subject of intensive extraction of the gypsum found in its subsoil (Guixeres del Claret i del Pelfort). Following the end of the mining activity, the area was used as a transfer station for municipal waste.
The project has two main objectives: One of connectivity, achieving the continuity of this global green ring whilst recognising the main views over the city and Montserrat, and generating a sequence of resting areas. And a second one of landscape and biodiversity recovery, establishing the necessary elements to generate a new dynamic on the site that progressively improves its environmental conditions through the use of water.
