The Alameda de Hércules
Another photo of the pillars at the south end looking north. It was quite a long walk from the south towards the north and I didn't take many photos worth sharing. It was a pleasant space though, and below is a description of the improvements made.
As part of the project, the depleted tree population has been boosted with five plane trees and three hundred and fifty hackberry trees, a species that is particularly favoured by the municipal parks and gardens service owing to its ability to withstand the rigours of summer in Seville. With its fast growth rate it is tall and leafy within a few years, offering shade to the passer-by. The older trees in the central walkway have been left on the understanding that as they disappear, the space separating the two pairs of columns will become increasingly clear until each pair can be seen from the other. The ground has been paved with a specially-designed flagstone finished with an ochre layer so as to resemble the pre-existing clay. Thanks to their double-rhomboid form, the pieces fit together in a zigzag, thus easily adapting to the gentle topographical undulations. This has made it possible to free the columns of their ditches and bars and to introduce a subtle downwards slope in the surrounding paving, which now brings them into the scheme, uniting them from the level of their bases. Most of this surface is now exclusively for pedestrians, except for the two lateral roads where the circulation of vehicles has been reduced to the minimum. The same paving covers pedestrian and vehicular traffic zones alike, with the latter indicated by concrete markers in the same colour of ochre emerging from the paving as if they were vertical extrusions of a series of modules consisting of six paving stones.
At both ends and in the centre of the walk three fountains have been installed, these constituting spouts set into the ground sending up vertical sprays to the delight of children, or misty clouds of atomised water to cool the atmosphere. Around the fountains, the ochre-coated paving stones are replaced by pieces of anti-slip stoneware. While they are equal in form, size and layout on the ground, they are finished with blue or white enamel, colours that traditionally characterise Seville’s fountains. These enamelled pieces sketch out on the ground large-scale designs that draw attention to the presence of water. That of the central fountain shows two sizeable numbers, 1574 and 2007, referring to the year the Alameda de Hércules came into being and the year envisaged for the finalisation of work for this most recent reconditioning of the walk.
New drinks stalls now join those installed in 2001, toning down their unmistakable presence without contradicting them. They endorse the neo-romantic style of the earlier constructions with a touch of irony, although they are smaller and open out like folding screens defining the areas where the tables and chairs of their terraces are to go. The stalls are protected from the sun by large seven-metre-high pergolas made of vertical concrete supports in the form of a T from which are suspended light aluminium panels painted in white, blue and yellow. Beneath the pergolas and near the drinks stands are benches in yellow-dyed prefabricated concrete. (From publicspace.org)
The Alameda de Hércules
Another photo of the pillars at the south end looking north. It was quite a long walk from the south towards the north and I didn't take many photos worth sharing. It was a pleasant space though, and below is a description of the improvements made.
As part of the project, the depleted tree population has been boosted with five plane trees and three hundred and fifty hackberry trees, a species that is particularly favoured by the municipal parks and gardens service owing to its ability to withstand the rigours of summer in Seville. With its fast growth rate it is tall and leafy within a few years, offering shade to the passer-by. The older trees in the central walkway have been left on the understanding that as they disappear, the space separating the two pairs of columns will become increasingly clear until each pair can be seen from the other. The ground has been paved with a specially-designed flagstone finished with an ochre layer so as to resemble the pre-existing clay. Thanks to their double-rhomboid form, the pieces fit together in a zigzag, thus easily adapting to the gentle topographical undulations. This has made it possible to free the columns of their ditches and bars and to introduce a subtle downwards slope in the surrounding paving, which now brings them into the scheme, uniting them from the level of their bases. Most of this surface is now exclusively for pedestrians, except for the two lateral roads where the circulation of vehicles has been reduced to the minimum. The same paving covers pedestrian and vehicular traffic zones alike, with the latter indicated by concrete markers in the same colour of ochre emerging from the paving as if they were vertical extrusions of a series of modules consisting of six paving stones.
At both ends and in the centre of the walk three fountains have been installed, these constituting spouts set into the ground sending up vertical sprays to the delight of children, or misty clouds of atomised water to cool the atmosphere. Around the fountains, the ochre-coated paving stones are replaced by pieces of anti-slip stoneware. While they are equal in form, size and layout on the ground, they are finished with blue or white enamel, colours that traditionally characterise Seville’s fountains. These enamelled pieces sketch out on the ground large-scale designs that draw attention to the presence of water. That of the central fountain shows two sizeable numbers, 1574 and 2007, referring to the year the Alameda de Hércules came into being and the year envisaged for the finalisation of work for this most recent reconditioning of the walk.
New drinks stalls now join those installed in 2001, toning down their unmistakable presence without contradicting them. They endorse the neo-romantic style of the earlier constructions with a touch of irony, although they are smaller and open out like folding screens defining the areas where the tables and chairs of their terraces are to go. The stalls are protected from the sun by large seven-metre-high pergolas made of vertical concrete supports in the form of a T from which are suspended light aluminium panels painted in white, blue and yellow. Beneath the pergolas and near the drinks stands are benches in yellow-dyed prefabricated concrete. (From publicspace.org)