Poplar Assembly

Javier García

Plaza de la Diversidad – Concéntrico 10

Assembly (from English)

Definitions according to the RAE:
(i) Assembly: meeting of the members of a collectivity to discuss matters of common interest and, where appropriate, to take decisions.
(ii) Ensamblaje (action of assembling) To join, put together, fit together, especially pieces of wood.

Strategy

The Poplar Assembly pavilion is conceived on the basis of 4 objectives: (1) to serve the community, (2) to generate a useful space for the purposes of the festival, (3) to promote construction with local materials and industry and (4) to renaturalise the city.

Social dimension: community space

The pavilion defines an urban space that will serve as a point of reference and allow festival-related activities to take place. In this way, the void generated encourages the meeting, exchange and relationship of both the participants of the event and the citizens of Logroño.

The space: a vegetal perimeter

The space, based on the concept of perimeter, is configured on the basis of the arrangement of a row of small, very slender poplars, which, by means of their repetition along a sinuous route, generate a permeable wall of vegetation. As a result, an urban oasis is created which, although defined by the plant curtain, is not isolated from the outside.

The vegetal perimeter enjoys the great richness provided by the elements that make it up: the poplars. The repetition of the same elements, which are at the same time different from each other, allows the air to pass through, acts as a light filter and generates a sense of peace and tranquillity.

The meandering layout of the perimeter fits in between the pre-existing buildings, avoiding the many obstacles present in the square and allowing the entrance to the buildings that make it up. This layout is occasionally interrupted to generate four doors, oriented towards the corners of the square, encouraging diagonal circulation. Occasionally, the large wooden planter is modified to create a seat next to the trees.

Construction: the poplar and the poplar board

As the slogan implies, the main element of the pavilion is poplar, both industrialised (Garnica poplar efficiency board) and in its natural state (tree), taking advantage of the fact that it is a fast-growing local species, very slender, ideal for creating a vegetal wall, and particularly economical.

Renaturalisation of the city: a gift to Logroño

The pavilion is to be dismantled and fully used once the festival is over. To this end, both the boards and the structure will be recovered and given a second life (see diagram “Life Cycle”).

As for the poplars, once Concéntrico is over, they will be donated to Logroño City Council to be replanted in the city. In this way, the Poplar Assembly pavilion will be linked, for a long time, to the city where it was born.