    La Vaguada de las Llamas was a large tract of open space on the outskirts of Santander set aside by the Master Plan to be turned into a public park. Its location, at the centre of major urban growth perpendicular to the Sardinero beach, its special river-bed topography and its long narrow shape (1100 m long by 300 m wide) made La Vaguada de las Llamas a highly specific urban element. Added to the physical data was something that made Las Llamas a truly unique spot: the presence of a partially stagnant watercourse at its lowest point, giving rise to a large native colony of reeds that is unique in its extension. For us, designing a park in Santander was an opportunity to experiment in a geographical context where we have never yet had chance to work. Having the Atlantic as an environmental context was a new feature, and we wanted to explore every aspect, not just its botany and biology, but also those that directly influence the morphology of the project. The project was based on three structural aspects. The first refers to the park’s urban structure. The park is laid out between two roads that define its perimeter: one pre-existing, the S-20 expressway, and another that is specially created, parallel to the Avenida de los Castros, which lines the park on the side where the universities are located. The main entrance, coinciding with the roundabout with the city’s Sports Stadium, provides vehicular access to the main car park and to the park itself through a grove of trees that culminates in a lookout point over La Vaguada and a green amphitheatre. This entrance sets out to relate the park’s two levels of intensity: mass use for large events that may be held here and the more intimate level of going for a walk and enjoying the place for its own merits. As well as this main entrance there are a further two around the perimeter which communicate the two conurbations that surround the park and connect the park to them: the area around the universities, with its fluctuating population (during the week, in the daytime and generally young) and the housing development on the south side of the S-20 (permanent, families and a wide age bracket).       |
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