El Riego’s Park

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I chose this location because it’s the place I use as a relaxation centre. There, you can go for a walk or just sit on the diferent benches around the park. The thing that makes me feel confortable in this place is its proximity to the river, which creates a wonderful atmosphere. I love to watch the different kinds of people passing by or taking their dog for a walk. As a kid, I used to play in this park, so everytime I go there it brings me so many happy memories

There’s an outdoor bowling alley near to the park. Somehow, i feel that the people who are usually there don’t fit with the enviroment I’ve mentioned. I prefer the peaceful old men or the energetic children. Either way, I wouldn’t change anything about this place and I reckon it’s impossible for me to find a place that makes me feel like that.

Parque del Riego, Colindres (Cantabria)

PART 2 – “Atmospheres”

I found this text really interesting and useful to extend my knowledge of Architecture. In fact, I reckon it brings a different perspective about the topic, which I personally loved. I like the travel the writer creates, so that when you’re reading, you can perfectly understand everything of what he’s talking about. The 9 different concepts and the appendices gave me the inspiration to reflect about architecture matters, and they even brought to my mind ideas I hadn’t notice yet.

My favorite chapter was “Between Composure and Seduction”. The analogy used by the author is the main reason why I loved this part of the writing. As he describes architecture, it is both a spacial and a temporal art, and I find this refection totally accurate. When you enter the degree, you imagine yourself being able to generate spaces in an artistic and useful way. But we should also keep in mind that the use of our projects will take its place in time. We should take into account that people would behave differently depending on our work and ideas. For example, people could just enter a room, do whatever the must, and then leave; but they could also flow all along the building to find their place. So this reflection provides a unique point of view about designing buildings, which is virtually important.

There’s no experience I would relate with the text in particular. Sometimes, when I revisit a place, the different characteristics such as temperature, sound or the movements of people bring memories to my mind. The first time I felt something like this was in Peñiscola, where I used to go on holidays. As a child, I was taking a walk around the castle and I remember my exact feelings provoked by all those sounds, smells and light. What I find interesting is that some years later I was at the same point, looking at the same place. But my feeling were different. The streets and the buildings hadn’t changed at all, but the environment was not the same. This confirms that architecture is not just buildings designing, but so many matters involving the building, time and us as humans.