Although it was inaugurated in June 2024, social networks are talking again these days about the reform of the Plaza de Olavide. What has fueled the conversation has been a video posted by @playdabeat, an architect from Barcelona based in New York, who has launched into an analysis of the remodeling of the Madrid square.
In general terms, his verdict is that “although the result is attractive, there are some landscaping issues that don’t quite fit in”. As a positive aspect he highlights the fact that there is more vegetation, but the balance is tipped by those things that in his opinion should be improved.
Among them what he considers a common practice in our country: despite the green areas, the separation between these and those that are not is too marked. “It seems that there are very preconceived ideas that a square has to be this: hard pavement and well, let’s put some vegetation to make it look nice.”
How to improve the reform of the Olavide square.
In this sense, the architect focuses on the planters, which delimit the space occupied by the plants in the square: “I feel angry and sad about the isolated planters, as if this were a canapé of vegetation in the middle of the ground. In August you can’t be here, it’s unbearable”.
The video, however, does not stop at criticism, but provides possible solutions, such as the creation of “areas where vegetation is integrated with a more permeable pavement” that would allow vegetation to grow between cobblestone and cobblestone.
He also detects interesting proposals in theory, such as turning curbs into benches, but in practice they do not fulfill their function: the vegetation eats up the space that is supposed to be used for seating. “Here there has been a lack of coordination between landscaping and design execution. It’s a missed opportunity.”
The result, he points out, is redundant benches that could have been integrated into the design, as in the case seen above in Manhattan West.
An alternative for Puerta del Sol
Speaking of square renovations, it was difficult not to mention Puerta del Sol and its controversial awnings. This architect, faced with the impossibility of planting trees due to the passage of the Metro, the Cercanías and technical galleries, proposes as an alternative that pergolas be installed to allow vegetation to grow.
