Together with Concéntrico Festival, AIR SQUARE explored the underused potential of an empty urban space, a parking space. The object re-actived the area which had turned an inadequate and barren function for the local users, by providing it a stage for events, a place to hang out, and rest.
Concéntrico is the Logroño (Spain) International Festival of Architecture and Design that annually proposes to reflect on the urban environment and the city. The Festival invites visitors to tour the city through installations, exhibitions, meetings, activities and performances that create a connection between the venues, squares, streets, courtyards and hidden spaces that usually go unnoticed in their daily lives. Since 2015, the festival has brought together in its five editions 73 urban installations, 42 exhibitions and talks, created by teams of national and international architects and designers who experiment with new fields of environmental design. In this way, a dialogue is established between the city, heritage and contemporary architecture that activates citizens’ reflection on these spaces.
AIR SQUARE is a placemaker improving the quality of the urban environment in a punctuated manner. As a soft measure, it contributes to building a resilient blue-green city, consequently bringing spatial quality, living environment, health, biodiversity, and property value
AIR SQUARE suits multiple functions and programs such as performances, farmers markets, or serving as an all-in-one public furniture with seating, lighting, and shading systems integrated. It is a catalyst of urban connections, activating underused urban spaces by bringing them purpose and promoting a vibrant public life
The ring-shaped object is also a visual reminder of the issue of CO2 production in our cities, by representing the amount of 1 ton in the size of the air balloon, therefore raising the environmental awareness in the public realm, giving citizens the opportunity to reflect on their current way of living.
