Teruel-Zilla
Teruel-Zilla It is a hybrid intervention that transforms the old Plaza Domingo Gascón and its ruined market into a buried public space and youth leisure system.
Conceived by Mi5 Architects + PKMN ArchitecturesThe project excavates an urban topography that reclaims the square as a civic surface and, at the same time, conceals a vibrant volume of activity underground.
A underground cultural infrastructure which bursts forth as a telluric, monumental and pop gesture.
Teruel-Zilla It not only proposes a new way of activating the historic center: it does so by reinterpreting the codes of the landscape, local history, and the tectonic dimension of public space.
Strategy
The architectural operation starts from the founding discovery of the Aragosaurus ischiaticus, the first dinosaur discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, as a narrative and tectonic trigger.
The burial of a new youth leisure facility is proposed, which fragments the surface of the city from below, generating a new topography that allows the program and public space to coexist without altering the historical fabric.
The strategies of camouflage, fissure, and emergence allow for the reinterpretation of the urban void as an active site. Instead of competing with the inherited monumentality, The project proposes a contemporary monumentality that arises from the subsoil and which tests another way of inserting programmatic density and architectural expression into heritage environments.
"Teruel-Zilla doesn't impose itself; it emerges from the subsoil to inhabit the city from its deepest layers."
Impact
Teruel-Zilla rehearse a replicable model for medium-sized cities seeking to combine memory and innovation, history and vitality.
Beyond the formal gesture, the project created a new youth activity center that expands the possibilities of public space, encourages continuous use, and opens avenues for more active citizenship. Its ability to work from within the urban landscape, without altering the logic of scale or dismantling the historic city, It sets a precedent for understanding the underground as an opportunity and not as a residue..
What seemed buried (social dynamism, youthful vitality, urban transformation) re-emerges with force from the depths.
"The space re-emerges from its own decay, activating the memory of the place and the lives of its people."
year of construction
2008-2011
total built volume
(adaptable to space)
total built area
6,605 m²
customer
Urban Teruel
Teruel City Council
location
Teruel (Spain)
situation
Finalized
typology
Ephemeral
City
Culture
Social
Innovation
disciplines
Urban intervention
Participatory installations
Comprehensive management
Specialized consulting
impacts
Differentiating Concept
Institutional prestige
Precision and innovation
Constructive excellence
Greater social value
