The project proposes to transform a derelict urban surface in front of the Pichincha Province Government building into a new cultural landscape that provides the city with a new high quality fine grain open space, complimentary to the adjacent Alameda Park. The proposal breaks the original superblock in order to create two smaller blocks, each with their individual identity. The project proposes a high impact, fine grain open space in the city that can act as a catalyzer for future urban transformations in the Alameda district.
The design restructures the old plaza into three new interconnected spaces, an open lawn that faces the existing park, a new courtyard and gallery space that redefine the entry to the existing underground theater and an elevated viewing platform that holds a small botanical garden made up of endemic Andean species and offers expansive views towards the park and the historic core. These three elements act as anchors for a multiplicity of social and cultural activities to unfold within the spaces of the project.
Design Team: Felipe Correa, Anthony Acciavatti, Andrew S. McGee, Andres Izurieta Rueda, Mariusz Klemens
Environmental and Botanical Consultants: (Douglas Meffert Loeb’08) Meffert + Etheridge Environmental Projects, New Orleans
Read the full article, “Plaza Republica/Somatic Collaborative,” at Arch Daily.