Winning Design Competition Entry Exhibited at U.Va. Architecture School

January 24, 2012 — "Barcelona: New Green Diagonal," an exhibit by Iñaki Alday, Quesada Professor and Chair of Architecture in the University of Virginia's School of Architecture, and lecturer Margarita Jover, will be on display in Campbell Hall's Elmaleh Gallery weekdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. through Feb. 3.

An opening reception and gallery talk will be held in conjunction with the Arts Grounds Final Fridays event on Jan. 27, from 6 to 6:30 p.m. In addition, Alday and Jover will give a lecture Feb. 6 at 5:30 p.m. in Campbell Hall, room 153.

In 2011, Alday and Jover's firm, aldayjover, in collaboration with West 8 and RCR Architects, won the international competition for the design of Sagrera Park, a diagonal public green space that runs through the heart of Barcelona, Spain.

This exhibit showcases the competition submission, consisting of the winning project's presentation boards for the design of the new park, which connects the sea, the city and its natural surroundings with a variety of zones intended to promote biodiversity.

A comprehensive overview of the proposal for the 100–acre project, the exhibit highlights the competition team's strategy to improve the city life in introducing a new green diagonal opposite the existing diagonal avenue. Large-scale drawings include illustrations of a series of micro-parks that are linked together by a common diagonal axis, generously shaded walkways provided for pedestrians and cyclists, and a number of pause points in the form of fountains and informal seating throughout.

Barcelona-based aldayjover was founded in 1996 and specializes in works of public architecture, urban space and landscape. The firm has received numerous design awards, including the FAD Prize of City and Landscape, created to encourage avant-garde currents as a response to the more traditional languages of design, and the European Urban Public Space Prize.

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