WATERSCALES. WATER: ENERGY AND LANDSCAPE IN GRANADA author affiliation De Corral, Francisco Architect. Granada. Spain. asis@coagranada.org Abstract Water guides nature. Leonardo Da Vinci In Granada, territorially and culturally speaking, water is one of the main landscape structural elements. Human being has listened to the laws established by the water throughout centuries. To understand landscape structure, we propose the study of the different scales given to the space by water and its inherent energy. We propose two distinct paths, historic and contemporary, along the three scales generated by the liquid (territorial, domestic and intimate). First of all, we will observe some traditional spaces of Granada. From the large territory, till the most intimate corner, through the palaces of the Alhambra, the space is created following water suggestions. We ll also listen how different thinkers, as the poet Federico Garcia Lorca, talk about water and its importance. On a second path, we will show three spaces created by our architecture office in which tradition and water are followed to shape new landscapes. keywords Water, scale, energy, landscape, geometry, topography, design strategy 1 blue in architecture 09_ PROCEEDINGS_IUAV Digital Library
1 / Territory scale. Topography and water Their attention was attracted by an impressive plain crisscrossed with streams and covered with trees and by a mountain. And they realized the importance of its central position with regard to the rest of the country. In front of it extended the Vega They were delighted by the place, situated in the centre of a rich region surrounded by the lands of agricultural workers. Abd Allah, the last Zirí king of the kingdom of Granada, gave a very explicit account for choosing the location of the citadel. The promised land and save dwelling shaped on a territory which receives water from the large cloud called Sierra Nevada was placed between last hills and the fertile an flat plain. 1 Granada, Aerial view Its position shows a powerful orography because of the deep valleys made by the rivers Darro and Genil. It is a strategic place shaped by the erosive forces which man would try to transform in garden thanks to the water guided from the snow-covered mountains. From the arabs arrival, mainly from the XI century, water guides the way of developing the territory. It could be said that its traces, guided by the human hand, redraw the landscape. 2 Water channel, Sierra Nevada From its birth, water has been controlled by man. Thus, the irrigation geometry will define the territory created by the arabs. The arab garden is the one of the arid countries explains the spanish architect Fernando Chueca Goitia. When it s not possible to imitate the nature of rainy countries, we must invent a landscape based on geometry ( ) we have the irrigated garden instead of the rain one, continues. Our garden is the one of the captured an shaped water. Granada s territory is controlled and geometrized, a large garden shaped by the human hand. Water springs, flows and is collected calmly. Thus, springs, irrigation channels and reservoirs are the main forms that water shapes. - The spring (in arab alfaguara) shows for the very first time the liquid geometry, offers it to the space and, receiving light and sound, shows us the perception of time. - The irrigation channel (acequia from the Arab sakiya) is contour line and marks the landscape following the lowest slope ( twelve inches high each hundred feet length as it is written in the agriculture guide of the sevillian Ibn Al-Awwam). It defined two kinds of territories, one, downwards, irrigated precisely, became a garden, the other, upwards, preserved its original conditions remaining as wasteland. This border, hardly ever broken, called rigidity line, marked the territory redefining the habitability and cultivation conditions. -The alberca, a Spanish word coming from the arab birka, is reservoir. Its shape and size depending on its use, is studied by the Arabs extensively. Such is the number of arab words and place names related to hydrology, that we could clearly confirm that the water territory is named in arab language. New forms are followed by new terms, so the arab culture was spring, or, precisely speaking using the arab term, alfaguara. Landscape in Granada was a labyrinth built by arab terms remaining nowadays such as surtidores, acequias, azarbes, azudes, azacayas, cauchiles, pilarillos, albercas o aljibes. The city of the Alhambra, as we will see later, fulfills all the geometries and forms that shape the water and shows the different scales proposed by the liquid. 1.2 / Urban, domestic and intimate scales. La Alhambra. The Arab city takes its shape from the desert Antonio Fernández Alba. National architecture award 2003. The desert is lack of water, for the human being is yearning of liquid. For the Islamic world, water, origin of life, created by god and a heaven gift, is purifier liquid for the human being body and soul. From the first settlement of the citadel in 1238, when the first moorish king of the nasrid dynasty, Muhamad Ibn Al_ Ahmar, reaches the hill, planned a specific hydraulic system provided by the water from the nearest mountains, drove the water, assigned geometry to its motion and controlled its energy without losing its essence. In the Alhambra water scales and qualify the different spaces. The Palacio de los Leones, the Patio de Comares and the Cuarto Dorado reflects the yearning of water and the sensitivity of people who think of the liquid as a treasure. 2
3 The Alhambra Thus the Alhambra is an anthology of the different kind of waters used by arabs, a kind of geometrized oasis, in other words, garden or architecture guided by the liquid. The grenadine poet Federico García Lorca shows us the close relationship between landscape, citadel and water. Using his own words, Darro s valley is a modulate landscape that sings, thanks to the sound of the river is pure harmony. A flute of huge chords played by different atmospheres. That s the way the Alhambra is. We will study some places of the citadel to show how the water is used to scale the space. crossed by a water cycle recreates the Islamic idea of a carpet which unifies inside an outside. The floor, thanks to four water channels, following the traditional Islamic garden divided in four quadrants, evokes the flows of water in an orchard. 5 Courtyard, Partial view The way of creating an Islamic garden, is making a flat surface that creates an illusion of walking over carpets full of fishes and flowers, declare Bermudez Pareja, curator of the monument during the fifties. From the intimate way of springing inside the rooms till the way it flows into the central fountain, water links the different spaces creating a feeling of nonstop movement. Water and stone are always together, they are so close that we could say that one belongs to the other. After water has sprung, cuts out the floor and becomes just humid stone. The arabs, has the opportunity to touch the liquid and feel that architecture and nature were together. Then, water starts moving again through a narrow channel, similar to the ones that irrigate orchards in the fertile lowland or Vega. From the Halls of the Abencerrajes and Dos Hermanas (two Sisters), the channel became a stair with water steps which curls its movement thanks to the light. Its rhythmic movement became a continuous murmur which precedes the song of the central fountain. This is the place of the Palaces in which water is more venerated. Placing the fountain in the center, taking its ablutions, the inhabitant feels as if it would be a real water spring, says the architect Francisco Prieto Moreno, curator of the monument during the thirties. In the courtyard the water cycle shows us a new beginning, a life renaissance. Water springs from a central basin and, hidden, is channeled to the lions heads who offer it singing. The basin is sea, but also spring, cloud. Thus, the fountain, looking up the Koran, was though as an offering, and the space as a paradise. As Lorca said: Closed paradise for many people, opened garden for a few ones. 4 Plan of the palaces 1.2.1 / Palacio de los Leones. Life cycle Built during the second reign of Muhamad V (1362-1391) the Palacio de los Leones (Palace of the Lions) and its courtyard, were thought as a country Ville of a private use in a urban atmosphere. The Courtyard of the Lions is surely where water is used with more refinement, and where confirms its changeable essence. Ten springs placed on the ground transform the space into a real garden, oasis. Its heart, 6 Courtyard from the Hall of Abencerrajes 7 Central Fountain 3
1.2.2/ Palacio de Comares. 1.2.2.1 / Cuarto Dorado (Golden Room). Intimate mystery Finished by Muhamad V in 1370, the Palacio de Comares, was used as the sultan residence as well as a juridical and administrative scenery. The heart of its access was occupied by the Cuarto Dorado, served as its real façade. It seems a theatrical space whose plain side walls remark the entrance which is completely covered with a plaster vibration. The white marbled floor shows a big water basin on its center. The intimate courtyard, represents the beauty of the city of Granada as Lorca sings. the water and Its external face confirms the dissolving of form thanks to the liquid. Thus, crossing that space would be similar to cross a sea or to go into a new dimension. Those could be the feelings that visitors would have before crossing a deep shadow and appear into another space full of light and water. It contains, once again, a complete water cycle. Two pieces, placed at short sides of the sheet, contain the spring and flow movements. They are built in marble as precision or musical instruments. Using primary geometric forms such a circle, a straight line and a slight slope, they make the space sing thanks to the water. Spring shows the liquid s weight leaving its footprint in the marble. They use the circle as a limit in reference to the movement of its ripples. Thus, geometry is again a way of showing liquid s potential energy. 8 Partial view The exact proportion of air and water, ( ) small patio, short music, little water just for dancing between our fingers, explains the poet. For García Lorca, the garden with a spring in its heart opened for a few people is the most precise definition of Granada. Studying the basin precisely, we discover a universe of feelings based on the using of water. Its marble skin seems being expanded to contain the liquid and the external side has a zigzag engraved figure which shows the overflow movement of water as paralyzed. Furthermore, during the nasrid period, the gap full of water of the ground basins became called sea. The basin placed on the Cuarto Dorado, soften the marble. It seems to be shaped by 9 Basis, Author s Drawing 1.2.2.2 / Patio de los Arrayanes (Myrtle Courtyard). Liquid Stone The courtyard was conceived as an open space dominated by the Tower of Comares, the keystone of the entire Alhambra. It encloses a shadow place, facing the river and its valley, where the meetings with the sultan took place. The patio, aided by the presence of a sheet of water and the myrtles, assumes the leading role of the entire citadel. The liquid breaks the floor becoming a deep sky. 10 Comares, Reflection 11 Water instrument Its flowing is channel, furrow, guided movement, free energy. Bermúdez Pareja, curator of the monument, called this part gargoyle, which could means that the pond is full of air, it s the sky. In the patio, silence is given by the slight murmur of water. Time seems to stop and a new dimension appears thanks to the reflection. Thus, water quietness contains different perception worlds and shows the sky at the ground level, as well as modifies the light both outdoor and indoor. García Lorca appears in a picture taken in 1927 next to the pond. Touching the water 4
lightly, he shows us one of his most creative matters. Federico draw with extreme delicacy the energy received by our senses. On his drawing Hand and fish, water joins eyesight to touch. He shows the water surface showing its wrist section coming into the water and liquid shows the time thanks to the ripples. Just with a few lines, the poet shows us a world of sensitivity and invites us to cross into a new dimension, those Closed paradise for many people, opened garden for a few ones which should be Granada in his opinion. 12 Hand and fish. 1930. F. García Lorca Thanks to the water, we perceive a stand-by time, eternal, calmed. Thanks to the liquid, Comares is a space without distinction of solid and liquid, a space for dreams, populated by magic inhabitants which contains, in words of the distinguished visitor, the Mexican architect Luis Barragán, the whole universe. 2 / Granada. Water; New Landscapes Everything happens on water. Antonio Fernandez Alba This sentence of the Spanish architect talking about the Patio de Comares shows us not only how important the water is, but also its ability to attract our senses. We should look at it and listen to it, as a natural matter, as a building material and as a creative and evocative element. We propose listen to the water and its relationship with the territory to create landscapes. We will show, from a creative point of view, a brief description of three projects based on the use of water, Granada, la Alhambra and García Lorca. 2.1 / Territorial scale. Events space next to the Vega. 2009 On the boundary of the urban city, next to the fertile low-land (Vega), just where urban geometries are replaced by rural ones, we propose a new landscape for events and celebrations placed close to an office building. Space is defined thanks to a flexible strategy based on the landscape of the lowlands whose crop fields are furrowed by irrigation channels. It should allow guiding and giving shelter to the visitor, and create a dynamic succession of spaces. Its surface is about eighteen marjales which means 9000sqm. The marjal is a unit of measurement, used on the crop fields, taken from the surface of the courtyard of the Palacio de los Leones in the Alhambra. Thus, its dimension, propose itself the scale of rural landscape. This courtyard was conceived as a carpet crossed by strength lines and channels. The Vega has developed in this way and that s how we would like to develop the events space; as a new landscape. 13 Vega. Aerial view On the drawing Arlequin ahogado (Downed harlequin), Federico Garcia Lorca shows us a surprising perception of the world. He doesn t show the water but its effects. The cracked lines because of the refraction multiply harlequin features showing water effects. In the same way our landscape carpet tries to create a new reality to dialogue with the existing one instead of using other camouflage strategy. 14 Arlequín ahogado. F.G. Lorca. 1927 5
The carpet spread out onto two levels, the upper one serve as entrance and the development of small acts and the lower one admit large events. Both follow a topographic map furrowed by strength lines in cracked continuity intensifying their movement at the slope between the two levels. These strength lines, made in oxidized steel have different uses; define the limits of the different materials, contains the vegetal topography with its colors and aromas, guide our steps and contain some water courses. Water is one of the main instruments used for shaping the different spaces. Its sound and presence modifies our feelings. It springs calmly some times, others its sonorous and rhythmic, it follows our steps on a water stair and propose our rest ending in a pond thanks to a channel guided by one of the designed strength lines. We would have liked to capture the essence of the agricultural territory on its The new landscape shapes from the study of the surroundings and the way people moves. We answer creating a new map with curved lines which modifies the original topography into a new one without carrying in new soil material. The new landscape of colorful dunes guides the visitor. Thus, we could say we create a fluxes garden which tries to reveal the strength lines defined by people movement. surroundings and its waterscale. 2.2 / Urban, domestic and intimate scale: Garden in an urban gap. 2008 15 Events space. Aerial view The lower level is a large surface surrounded by large trees and a marked slope to protect the space from the noisy high-way. Next to the main stairs, linking the two levels, we find the sound of the water on a pond. In an urban gap surrounded by several kind of buildings: A university library, an ancient church, industry and dwellings, there was a void clamming for reactivation. We have proposed a garden to arrive, a place to escape, a place with a domestic scale to dream. In Granada, as we have seen, the Alhambra is a place built for dreaming. The Patio de Comares is a mixture of water, marble and myrtle vegetation for creating new feelings. Looking at one of García Lorca s drawings called El Joven y su alma (The young man and its soul), made in 1926, we realize that the intangible soul shapes as a complementary form from the face of the young man. In such a similar way we decide to activate the urban void using a complementary geometry from the one used at the Alhambra. We propose a new form as the soul of that courtyard which attracts the neighborhood residents. 17 El Joven y su alma. F.G.Lorca. 1926 18 Garden. Aerial view Water springs next to the shadow of two white mulberry trees, inside one of the moving limits. From the ground, calmly, it takes the natural form of a drop or tear. Its murmur makes the silence which defines the close and domestic scale of the corner. Thus, those stone tear would be a guarded secret of a neighborhood garden or fluid oasis that let us dream. 19 Stone tear 16 Water corner 6
2.3 / Intimate scale: A mystery corner. Hotel El Ladrón de Agua (Hotel The Water Thief). 2007 The third project shows an intervention in a restored building from the XVI and XVII centuries, placed in Albaycin quarter in front of the Alhambra. 20 Façade Used as a hotel, it should show the guests the written memories of the Spanish Nobel prized Juan Ramón Jimenez on his book Olvidos de Granada (Oblivions from Granada) where the author explains his travel to Granada in June 1924 and how the city impresses him. It s a project just for a few elements which occupies the common spaces of the hotel: A watercolor mural along the whole entrance, a words door which shows a kind of prologue to the space, and a water thief, the element that names the hotel. The exact proportion of air and water was García Lorca s way of explaining the essence of Granada. Looking, again, at one of his drawings called Muchacha granadina en un jardín (Granadine girl in a garden), made in 1925, we recognize a water basin across a thick wall. The drawing of a water jet inside the piece, tries to show the sound of that intimate corner. 21 Muchacha granadina en un jardín. F.G.Lorca. 1925 In the courtyard, heart of the hotel, water is also the leading piece. Here, Juan Ramón Jimenez should be the one who takes its turn to speak. The water thief is a piece which tries to summarize the magic essence of the using of water in the grenadine patio. Done in a selected grey sky marble from Portugal, it s always humid including its silent spill. Thus water and stone seem to be one. From its heart, water springs silently through Juan Ramon s handwritten words. After sliding gently onto the shadow, it slips away murmuring. 22 Patio. Water thief The exact proportion of water and air in the courtyard tries to create the silent and magic spaces that Arabs, García Lorca and Juan Ramón Jimenez have been looking for. The piece of stone, transformed by the water condenses the energy of the space. 3 Conclusions Having looked around the landscapes of Granada, we have understood that water and its inherent energy (physic and creative) generates the different scale of its spaces. We have studied the use of water along a part of our history, from its impact on the territorial landscape, till the magic spaces of the Alhambra and the remarked García Lorca s sensitivity. We propose a new language in creating the contemporary landscape taking the scale and energy of the spaces generated by the water as a starting point, respecting our tradition, its values and its way of using the liquid. 7
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