Students at IED University’s campuses in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao have made a collective effort to propose innovative visions for public space.
Driven by a mission to create more humane, environmentally friendly cities, the projects identify public space as a ‘key element to measure the quality, interconnection of inhabitants and very identity of a city’, according to the Spanish university. With their proposals, students Jiaping Lin, Adrià Vilar and Sandra Salgado address the unique needs of their respective cities, factoring in user needs, sustainability and beauty alike.
Jiaping Lin’s child-centric concept Paopao is suited to Madrid’s Retiro district, which houses El Retiro Park, Spain’s largest green space. Liu calls Paopao a ‘universe’ for children between three and 12 years old – the accessible series of spherical structures are targeted toward encouraging socialization and learning for a diversity of groups. White on their façade, the spheres’ interiors are clad in colour, each different hue demarcating the function within; a few include the Reading Bubble, Audiovisual Bubble, Silence Bubble and a Classroom Bubble.
Jiaping Lin’s child-centric concept Paopao comprises a series of spherical spaces that have varied functions for children in Madrid.
A agricultural education centre, Adrià Vilar’s project is a semi-outdoor institution that emulates the stages of agriculture.
Sandra Salgado conceived a civic centre and house of culture that encourages pedestrian traffic in in San Sebastián.
Young Barcelona-based designer Adrià Vilar’s project zooms in on agricultural education. The Glorias Centre for Agricultural Education (CEAG), Vilar’s proposed institution for Barcelona’s Glòries park area, ‘promotes theoretical and practical self-learning’. The goal is to raise social awareness with regards to practices within the agricultural sector, past and present. CEAG’s dynamic spaces thus emulate the four phases of the agricultural process –germination, planting, cultivation and harvesting – and offer programming that represents those stages. Vilar designed the semi-outdoor centre to be a direct extension of the Glòries park area, merging with the natural environment.
Sandra Salgado, a student at IED’s Bilbao campus, conceived a civic centre and house of culture for a former factory in Egia, a neighbourhood in San Sebastián with a large student population. High transit in the area makes the district unwelcoming for pedestrian traffic, and Salgado’s vision seeks to change that. The civic centre’s ground floor is designed without any partitions so as to stimulate pedestrian flow and serve as a sheltered area for meetings. Her plan also includes a multi-generational, multifunctional open space, a level for events and one especially for hospitality and interaction.
‘Public space comprises places for meeting and exchange, promoting diversity and inclusivity and providing many benefits for our physical and mental wellbeing,’ says the IED team. This philosophy helps drives the university’s curriculum, training emerging designers to engage with their localities by conceptualizing designs that truly service communities.
Learn more about IED's Bachelor's Degree in Interior Design programmes in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao.
