Metropol Parasol

Redevelopment of Plaza de la Encarnacion, Seville, Spain

J. MAYER H. Architects

Metropol Parasol is the new icon project for Seville, - a place of identification and to articulate Seville’s role as one of Spains most fascinating cultural destinations. Metropol Parasol explores the potential of the Plaza de la Encarnacion to become the new contemporary urban centre. Its role as a unique urban space within the dense fabric of the medieval inner city of Sevilla allows for a great variety of activities such as contemplation, leisure and commerce. A highly developed infrastructure helps to activate the square, making it an attractive destination for tourists and locals alike.

The Metropol Parasol scheme with its large mushroom like structures offers an archeological site, a farmers market, an elevated plaza, multiple bars and restaurants underneath and inside the parasols, as well as a panorama terrace on the very top of the parasols. Thought of as a light wood structure, the parasols grow out of the archeological excavation site into a contemporary landmark. The columns become prominent points of access to the museum below as well as to the plaza and panorama deck above, defining a unique relationship between the historical and the contemporary city.

Urban Context

Metropol Parasol redefines the potential of Plaza de la Encarnacion to become the contemporary urban centre of Seville. Its role as a unique open urban space within the dense fabric of the city of Seville allows for a great variety of activities such as contemplation, leisure or commerce. A well developed infrastructure helps to activate the space, making it an attractive destination for tourists and locals alike. The architecture proposed here will thus not only create a new place of identification for the people of Seville but also articulate Seville’s role as one of Spain’s most fascinating destinations.

Metropolitan Parasol

The Metropolitan Parasol is the main architectural element that gives a new contemporary identity to the Plaza de la Encarnation and Seville as a whole. It is concieved as a roof structure that provides precious shade during the day, creating a comfortable microclimate and a place for relaxation. At night, the MP becomes an artificial sky that sets the stage for various light and sound scenarios. These two qualities allow for a series of urban activities such as sports (beach volleyball, boxing, street basketball, etc.), cultural events (cinema, theatre, concerts, etc.) as well as commercial uses (car- and fashion shows, corporate events, presentations, etc.) that emphazise the Plaza’s role as one of the city’s main places for communication and interaction.

Market

The role of the market in this concept is one that reactivates the vivid everyday life that once charactarized the Plaza de la Encarnation. In so doing, it serves the neighborhood, adding significant quality to the daily life of the inhabitants of the area. The enhanced infrastructure will at the same time make it easily accessible to people from different parts of the city, further strengthening it’s importance for the urban environment. We see the market as a fresh local institution, a condensation point of the agricultural activity around Seville that brings pulsating life to the area at daytime. The organisation of the floorplan allows for most areas of the market to be closed at night while keeping the bars on the north and south edge of the complex open.

Elevated Plaza

The Elevated Plaza responds to the need for a large, multifunctional urban meeting space in the old city centre of Sevilla. It is connected to the street level via large stairways that function as activators for street life. While being large enough to mark the plaza as a public space, the stairways make for easy reconfiguration in the event of restricted access such as concerts, theatre performances or fashion shows. While most of these activities take place in the evening or at night, in the daytime, the plaza becomes an attractive destination for retreat from the urban life and a place for play, conversation or contemplation. Holes in the platform visually connect it to the market underneath and further to the museum underground. The architectural proposal doubles the original area and creates an additional 4.500 sqm of high quality programmable space. Water bassins located in selected areas of the surface further enhance the microclimate and offer attractive locations for sitting and lingering.

The Parasol

As the dominating architectural element, the Parasol is the main sign of identity of the proposal. With the Parasol, the Plaza de la Incarnation becomes the prototype for a new urban space which combines everyday life with new program and new technology. It is orchestrated as a centre for public life in the heart of Sevilla and develops into a magnet for economic as well as cultural develoment. Concieved as a light structure, the Parasol grows out of the historical excavation site into a contemporary landmark. The columns become prominent points of access to the museum below as well as to the plaza above, connecting the elements and defining a unique relationship between the historical and the contemporary. Accessibility to one of the umbrellas provides visitors with a spectacular view of the city and it’s monuments. Spanning across the bus corridor, the structure further emphazises the spacial continuity of the plaza, a concept that is further stressed by the use of distinct homogenous tiling across the full area of the site.

Museum

The Archeological Museum is located underneath the market and visually marked by an entrance inside the thickest column of the Parasol. Horizontal windows in the floor of the market articulate its presence on the floor surface.Metropol Parasols mixused character initiates a dynamic development for culture and commerce in the heart of Seville.

Project Team: Juergen Mayer H., Andre Santer, Marta RamÌrez Iglesias, Jan-Christoph Stockebrand, Marcus Blum, Ana Alonso de la Varga, Paul Angelier, Hans Schneider, Thorsten Blatter, Wilko Hoffmann, Claudia Marcinowski, Sebastian Finckh, Alessandra Raponi, Olivier Jacques, Nai Huei Wang

Competition Team: Juergen Mayer H, Dominik Schwarzer, Wilko Hoffmann, Ingmar Schmidt, Jan-Christoph Stockebrand, Julia Neitzel, Klaus K¸ppers, Georg Schmidthals, Daria Trovato,

International Competition: 1. Prize, 2004

Project: 2005-2007

Completion: End of 2008/ 2009

Client: Ayuntamiento de Sevilla and SACYR

Management Consultant: Dirk Blomeyer

Technical Consultant for Competition 2nd phase only and

Multidisciplinary Engineers for Realization: ARUP GmbH

Technical Support for Plants – Competition 2nd Phase only: Coqui-Malachowska-Coqui with Thomas Waldau

Translation competition text: Carmen Diez

Plexi-Model: Werk 5, Photographer: Uwe Walter

Timber-Model: Finnforest Merk

Permanent Collection of Museum of Modern Art, NY and Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin