peimu ca n’ensenya, barcelona
Object.
This Special Integral Urban Planning and Improvement Plan aims to facilitate the construction of a parish centre that is well integrated into the surrounding urban landscape and that allows for activities other than those of worship that will take place in the restored church of San Rafael, as well as facilitating the extension of the Ca n'Ensenya farmhouse.
To achieve this objective, the Plan proposes specific determinations that are summarized in the following points:
- · Define the land that will be allocated to each of the facilities
- · Define the ownership of the facilities
- · Define the type of facilities possible
- · Define the conditions for the organization of buildings in such a way as to ensure their integration into the environment
Area.
This P.E.I.M.U. is located in the neighbourhood of La Guineueta, in the District of Nou Barris, around the Plaza de Ca n'Ensenya, in Barcelona.
It is defined by Marie Curie Street to the south, Alsace Street to the east, the back of the building located on the corner of Alsace Street with the Valldaura Promenade, the back of the Guineueta Market, the back of the two buildings that are located on the west side of this market and the east part of the Agora school. It includes land of four plots and has an area of 11,956 m2.
The Masia of Ca n'Ensenya.
Also known as Can Guineueta -by the name of the neighbourhood in which it is located-, the original name of the farmhouse was Ca n'Amell Xic. Nothing remains, however, of the original construction of the XVI-XVII century, which was demolished in 1990; the current construction is from 1986 and incorporates later modifications.
After passing through various hands, the property is purchased by the Mental Institute of the Holy Cross in 1879, which maintains until 1986 the agricultural activity that developed around it, despite the fact that the parish linked to the institute uses some of its spaces for cult, leisure or cultural activities since 1979.
In 1996 the building passes into the hands of the City Council, which makes of it a neighbourhood facility. The activities carried out to date by the parish in the annex to the farmhouse are those that are planned to be moved to the church of San Rafael and the new parish premises described above, so that it is possible to demolish the aforementioned annex and allow for the future expansion of the neighbourhood centre.
This operation, in total consistency with the one developed around the historical building of the church of San Rafael, must allow to put some order and make coherent the set of facilities that are within the scope of this plan.
The church of San Rafael.
The church of San Rafael is a small part of the old mental institute of Santa Cruz, a large neoclassical building built in 1888 by Josep Oriol Bernadet. It was located in the rear central part of the complex, on the same axis as its main access, from which it was separated by the central cloister of the building and a secondary cloister of semi-circular geometry.
At present, the sanatorium no longer exists and much of the building has been demolished; only the bodies that currently house the district headquarters and some municipal services remain. Between them and the church the Marie Curie Street has been opened and a good part of its front semi-circular portico has disappeared, which has made it an isolated element.
The church is out of use. The residential growth of its surroundings, the difference in height between the church and the Valldaura walk and the creation of the Nou Barris central park have also made part of it partially buried.
The Archiepiscopate of Barcelona is interested in opening a church in this area and, together with the Barcelona City Council, has established a collaboration protocol to make it possible. It is also interesting to enable the construction of a parish centre that allows carrying out other activities than the ones of worship. To minimize the visual impact of this new building, it is proposed to take advantage of the difference in level at the back of the church so that the new construction is under a green roof that gives continuity to the park space.
The whole set of operations –rearrangement of the buildings, modification of the topography, implantation of the parish building and creation of a new public space- must make it possible to give a new urban logic to what is currently a disused construction.