Spain<\/a>. The Swiss architect\u2019s project sought to revive what he called a \u201clost space\u201d on one of the main thoroughfares in the city, a concrete island with a broken fountain.<\/p>\nRound About Baths attempted to reclaim a space that would normally be out-of-bounds for those without a motor vehicle. Photograph: Josema Cutillas<\/p>\n
Inspired by 19th-century public baths, Banchini\u2019s studio used uncut timber panels to build and place a simple structure directly on to the fountain. The existing water basin became a shallow pool, while cast-iron flower pots were repurposed as fire bowls that heat a steam room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have given up so much public space to cars, and if you live in a city with kids you live in constant fear that they will be hit by a passing vehicle\u201d, Banchini said. \u201cIt restricts our movement so much that we almost can\u2019t see it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those trying to catch a glimpse of the roundabout baths in situ will be disappointed, however: Banchini\u2019s structure was only erected for a week as part of the city\u2019s Conc\u00e9ntrico architecture festival in June 2025 \u2013 inadvertently showing how difficult it is to permanently alter car-centric infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Leopold\u2019s Banchini\u2019s project in Logro\u00f1o only stood for a week. Photograph: Josema Cutillas<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we had built something more permanent, we would have had to engage with safety concerns\u201d, said Banchini, noting that bathers were only able to access the roundabout via a zebra crossing on one side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rules around car traffic are hard to modify, and any requests usually go all the way up to municipal authorities\u201d, he added. \u201cAnd politicians are really scared to touch anything with cars, because they fear it will cost them in votes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The creators of another Spanish finalist, Barcelona\u2019s Pla\u00e7a de les Gl\u00f2ries Catalanes, were more successful: the three thoroughfares that used to bring traffic into the Gl\u00f2ries cloverleaf interchange were partly laid underground to make room for open green space.<\/p>\n
Barcelona\u2019s Pla\u00e7a de les Gl\u00f3ries Catalanes has proved to be a success with the city\u2019s residents. Photograph: Fernando LuaPeople enjoy games of table tennis in the Spanish sun. Photograph: Aitor Est\u00e9vez Olaizola<\/p>\n
Antwerp\u2019s Zuidpark is the result of a similar attempt to banish cars from cityscapes. Located in the southern Zuid district of the Belgian city, the 800-metre green space covers an area that used to be taken up by a large free car park.<\/p>\n
In 2015, municipal authorities launched a competition for a public space to fill the site. \u201cI have done projects like this for 25 years, but this park had to be completely different to anything we\u2019ve done before, and that\u2019s because of the climate issue\u201d, said Bart Van Gassen of Tractebel, the urban architecture company that won the commission.<\/p>\n
The firm decided to excavate 70% of the new park\u2019s area and put in place a 1.5-metre top layer of soil that would allow trees and bushes to grow more rapidly. Two years after its opening in 2024, Zuidpark is lined by double rows of 500 new trees that provide shade during heatwaves.<\/p>\n
Zuidpark was built on the site of a former car park in Antwerp. Photograph: Isabelle PateerAdding a deep top layer of soil has helped plants in Zuidpark thrive. Photograph: Isabelle Pateer<\/p>\n
\u201cThe planting is really booming\u201d, said Van Gassen. \u201cWe have projects we constructed 10 years ago and the trees are still smaller than here.\u201d He said recent research by the University of Antwerp showed there were significantly lower temperatures inside the park than elsewhere in the city.<\/p>\n
Climate breakdown is bringing not just waves of intense heat but also extreme precipitation, which Zuidpark seeks to anticipate with lowered spaces, called \u201crain gardens\u201d, designed to collect rainwater. Filled with old bluestone blocks unearthed during construction and vegetation that can grow in a wet environment, these wilder spaces have become popular play areas for children.<\/p>\n
Still, the cars haven\u2019t vanished altogether: a new car park, no longer free, is now positioned across four storeys underneath Zuidpark\u2019s northern and southern wings, and can be accessed from entry points outside the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could be critical because it\u2019s still a car park with 2,000 spaces that is very close to the city,\u201d said Van Gassen. \u201cIf you\u2019re thinking sustainably, maybe it should have been built more outside of the city. But then, maybe if there was no parking we wouldn\u2019t have been able to build a park at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also on the shortlist for the prize, which is held every two years, are the Le\u00e7a Green Corridor in northwest Portugal and Peace Park in Vicenza, Italy.<\/p>\n
The winner of the award, organised by Spain\u2019s Centre de Cultura Contempor\u00e0nia de Barcelona with six other European architecture institutions, will be announced on 15 October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the words of Joni Mitchell, the planners of many urban centres around the world \u201cpaved paradise and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-764752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}