The structuring and attractive ‘power’ of the public lighting system

The example of the new civic axis of the C245 in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area between the municipalities of Castelldefels and Cornellà de Llobregat.

The remodelling works on the historic C245 road, promoted by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), the Catalan Government’s Department of Territory and Sustainability, and the five local councils involved in this macro-project, are progressing at a good pace and we can already see the transformation brought about by this important urban project, which interconnects the five associated municipalities and forms an almost continuous urban area with a population of approximately 350,000 inhabitants.

The project involves the conversion of a somewhat ‘obsolete and disordered’ traditional road into a metropolitan corridor, applying urban integration criteria and enabling and promoting sustainable mobility through the implementation of efficient public transport and encouraging the use of bicycles and pedestrian routes, which interconnect the five municipalities.

The project, which began in the summer of 2020, reduces the space available for private vehicles, contributing to the ‘decarbonisation of mobility’ in favour of the use of public transport (BRT buses and hybrid and electric express buses), which are given their own lane with the aim of increasingentar su frecuencia y su oferta al usuario. También se actúa en la interconexión de la vía ciclable (bici vía) y de los espacios de uso ciudadano como son   boulevard urbanos i periurbanos y su relación con plazas y parques que atraviesan.

In addition to the increase in the number of public transport users, there has also been a sharp rise in bicycle use throughout the development of this new axis, driving a necessary change in travel habits as a whole.

PRE-EXISTING CHARACTER OF THE NEW METROPOLITAN CORRIDOR.

The C245, a ‘historic long-distance road’ approximately 12 km long and with various names, is ‘associated’ with the dual status of local road between municipalities and regional road, connecting the Garraf coastline with Barcelona from east to west. The road has sections with very diverse urban environments: compact historic centres, residential areas with isolated blocks, offices, industrial areas, rural areas and sectors undergoing major urban development.

The old C-245 regional road was built as a fast connection to the south-west of the Barcelona area, and its layout was designed as a ‘classic’ two-way regional road.

The road begins in the town of Castelldefels and ends in the town of Cornellà de Llobregat, crossing and interconnecting the municipalities of Gavà, Viladecans and Sant Boi de Llobregat.

The project recognises and integrates the identities and characteristics of each urban space it crosses, as well as establishing a hierarchy for their reclassification, highlighting and enhancing places with significant potential (large-scale urban spaces – squares and parks) and places with the capacity to structure the environment and promote the cross-sectional permeability of the routes.

The C245, a road with a variable useful section, highly sought after in terms of mobility with a significant average daily traffic volume (private vehicles and public transport/buses), which acts as a collector road, connected to the numerous roundabouts along its route, as well as traffic travelling from the mountains to the beach, has been transformed into a powerful corridor for public transport and sustainable mobility, into a large-scale linear public space with a traffic-calming system and the capacity to reinforce the urban characteristics of all the places it passes through, giving them geometric and urban order.

An integral part of the transformation project is also the incorporation of a two-way cycle lane (cycle path) connecting the entire length of the new axis and linked to the existing and future network of metropolitan cycle paths. This integrative project also enhances pedestrian connections by increasing and linking a whole chain of promenades, boulevards and squares associated with the new intervention. It offers and promotes the possibility of travelling from Barcelona to Castelldefels by bicycle.

The architectural key, with which this historic infrastructure route is being redesigned, gives it an integrative, pacified and connected treatment of public space.

THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT THROUGH WHICH THE NEW CORRIDOR PASSES

As we have pointed out, the C245 is a system with different characteristics depending on the sections of its route, alternating between peri-urban road sections and urban sections of various types, typical of the five municipalities it passes through.

The sections of compact residential and commercial buildings on both sides of the axis alternate with areas of scattered buildings (blocks of residential and tertiary buildings, facilities, hotels, small and medium-sized industry, industrial estates, green corridors, etc.).

Precisely because of this variety of urban fabrics, we can say that, together with the renewed connecting function of the road and its capacity, one of the important challenges has been the search for a common and unified formal language along the entire route, capable of conveying to users, who travel by different means and at different speeds, the perception of a fluid and integrating space.

Recognising the main characteristics of this road allows us to enhance its potential to become a metropolitan boulevard capable of providing continuity and fluidity to all its routes, whether for vehicles (public and private transport), cyclists, pedestrians, etc. From this perspective, it will be possible to reconcile the historical dichotomy between ‘urban street and highway’; transforming the C-245 axis, which has mixed street and highway characteristics, into a metropolitan avenue.

SUMMARY OF THE MAIN PROJECT OUTLINES

El proyecto de transformación:

• Has a unifying character in its formal and functional language.
• Has an integrative structure that allows for further interventions.
• Re-naturalises the “street” since “an urban street is not a road” and promotes its change of category. It is a civic axis of a metropolitan nature.
• It enhances the urban landscape and the unifying factor of the road through elements of street furniture: lighting, traffic lights, BRT/VAO bus stops, finishing materials, signage, planting, etc.
• It establishes hierarchies by intervening and unifying the formal language of large squares. (Intersection of Av. Constitución with Av. Málaga and Plaza Colom in Castelldefels, Plaza Tanatorio da Viladecans and Plaza Parellada in Sant Boi de Llobregat).
• Enhances quality features (large and small squares, boulevards, cycle routes associated with the urban corridor, large parks, etc.).
• Establish an efficient public transport system to attract users through a quality service. The efficiency of the public transport system is achieved by differentiating the BRT system from the traditional bus and giving it priority in terms of route/itinerary (crossing the large squares axially) and promoting intermodality throughout its route.
• Increase the planting of tree species and green areas.

EL” FACTOR Z “Y EL PODER ESTRUCTURANTE DE LA ILUMINACIÓN URBANA.

Uno de los retos importante de esta intervención urbana ha sido el valor conceptual que se ha atribuido a lo que podemos llamar el “factor Z “de la intervención atribuyendo importancia a todos los elementos urbanos que pudieran conseguir unificar la imagen heterogénea del entorno. Esto se consigue mediante un lenguaje formal propio de los elementos urbanos que constituyen el “efecto escalar” de la intervención.

Esta condición unitaria se manifiesta con factores escalares de elementos urbanos que lo caracterizan: Fundamentalmente red de alumbrado mediante sistema LEDs , semáforia incorporando wifi señalética , arbolado de nueva planta, tótem informativos de bici vía,  pavimentaciones para conexiones peatonales y de bicicletas, pasos para peatones, calzada con carril bus propio, sistema de paradas bus exprés ,  bus VAO y autobús convencional centralizadas en las plazas principales del eje. De oeste a este encontramos la   plaza de la Estación y plaza Colom a Castelldefels, Rambla Vayreda a Gavá, Parque Europa y plaza España a Viladecans, Plaza Europa y plaza Parellada a San Boi y intercambiador de Cornellá y otros hitos urbanos. Todos estos factores materiales constituyen la cristalización del proyecto.

En esta óptica no cabe la menor duda que uno de los papeles importante has sido la unificación de los modelos de luminaria y semaforia utilizados como también el incremento y porte de la plantación de diversas especies arbóreas intercaladas en alineación a lo largo de la vía. Estos elementos claramente perceptibles en el nuevo espacio urbano han dado a la vía una clara identidad: Tanto durante el día (texturas urbanas, porte i color variado de la plantación, alternancia de los efectos de sombra etc.) como de noche donde con la silueta estilizada de los elementos lumínicos emergen entre las partes vegetales de avenidas y plazas.

La nueva perspectiva lineal constituida por la implantación de los elementos lumínicos Modelo Longline aporta orden y secuencia escalar a los recorridos a lo largo de los 12km de este corredor metropolitano.

La silueta del Modelo con su geometría funcional y minimalista refuerza el concepto de techo iluminado de sucesivas líneas de luz paralelas entre si pertenecientes a un único plano en el espacio, tanto para el efecto sobre la nueva calzada como para los nuevos espacios públicos peatonales. El haz de rectas de iluminación con tecnología LED contiene, delimita y dibuja este nuevo recorrido creándose así un modo arquitectónico y reconocible de proyectar el espacio público.

FICHA TÉCNICA Y CRÉDITOS

LOCALIZACIÓN:

carretera C245 que atraviesa los municipios de Castelldefels, Gavá, Viladecans, Sant Boi del Llobregat, Cornellá del Llobregat (Área metropolitana de Barcelona)

PROYECTO CONSTRUCTIVO: junio 2018

INICIO OBRA: agosto 2020

SUPERFICIE: 225,000m2 LONGITUD: 12km

PRESUPUESTO: 45 millones €

PROMOTORES:

Generalitat de Catalunya. Departamento de Territorio y Sostenibilidad – Dirección General de Infraestructuras de Movilidad. INFRAESTRUCTURES.CAT & AMB Área Metropolitana de Barcelona.

AUTORES:

Bernardo de Sola Arquitecto Urbanista -DE SOLA GORI y Carlos Blay Ingeniero de Caminos Canales y Puertos – BAC

CONSULTORA: 

UTE –DE SOLA GORI SERVEIS DE ARQUITECTURA I URBANISME SL, BAC ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY GROUP SL, TECMOSIENA AIE.

EQUIPO REDACTOR PROYECTO CONSTRUCTIVO:

Angela Gori Arquitecto – DE SOLA GORI, Carlos Lodos y Mireia Martin Ingenieros de Caminos Canales y Puertos – BAC, José Maria Casas Director Técnico- TECMOSIENA

Colaboradores:  Pol Casellas, Cristina Batalla, Xavier Poley , Xu Zhwngyu, Gaston Corradini i Gemma Pous arquitectos

CONSULTORES EXTERNOS:

ROURA SA Estudios Lumínicos, VISTA PREVIA SL Imágenes virtuales, DAC ENVIRO SL Micro simulaciones de tránsito y movilidad, TOYSER SA Topografía.

DIRECCIÓN DE OBRA: UTE IGC C245 ( CETRES Enginyers SLP y BAC Engineering Consultancy Group SL). DIRECTOR DE OBRA Xavier Bosch Ingeniero de Caminos Canales y Puertos

ASISTENCIA A LA DIRECCIÓN DE OBRA: Bernardo de Sola y Angela Gori Arquitectos – DE SOLA GORI SERVEIS DE ARQUITECTURA I URBANISME SL.

Colaboradores: Gemma Pous y Jorge Santos arquitetos.

CONSTRUCTORAS :

DRAGADOS Lote 1 Município de Castelldefels, COPISA Lote 2 Município de Gavá, LANTANIA Lote 3 Município de Viladecans, CRC Lote 4 Município de Sant Boi de Llobregat, COPCISA Lote 5 Município de Cornellá.