ON THE WATERFRONT.

Torrevieja's narrow waterfront has been transformed by a landscaped promenade in the form of a coastal garden which creates a series of spaces for recreation and contemplation.

Lying midway between Alicante and Cartagena, the town of Torrevieja has fallen prey to indiscriminate and uncontrolled development typical of the Spain's south-west coastal strip. It had expanded to the edge of the sea, leaving little room for a public promenade or bathing. Carme Pinos was asked to remodel a thin strip of waterside space to create places for recreation, swimming, strolling and sitting. As with an earlier civic landscaping scheme for a suburb of Alicante (AR October 1999), Pinos transforms an uninspiring context through skilful deployment of simple, robust materials and an instinctive awareness of the human and social dimension of public space. Swimming was difficult and dangerous due to the heavy waves and jagged rocks, so Pinos adapted existing breakwater structures to enclose two new bays for protected bathing. Timber decks, like boardwalks, lead down to the beach areas and the concrete block structure of the breakwaters merges into the hard landscaped surface of the promenade. On the land side, the promenade winds in a leisurely, irregular fashion along the waterfront, providing a pleasant route for daytime flaneurs and the evening passeggiata, the ritual Mediterranean stroll. Diagonally arranged concrete tiles with lozenge-shaped gaps for a grid of palm trees impart a graphic, dynamic quality to the promenade. Benches and pedestals for rest and contemplation are scattered at random through the regular grid; made of slatted timber these combine sturdiness and elegance in equal measure. When the palms are fully grown, they will form a lush green canopy, providing shade and softening the waterfront edge, screening the undistinguished scrum of buildings behind.

Modest in scale, yet executed with great resourcefulness and sensitivity, Pinos promenade is an adroit exercise in the gentle art of placemaking and shows what can be achieved in unexceptional circumstances. Pinos herself describes it as a 'coastal garden' that will flourish and evolve over time, exerting a civilizing influence over the public realm.