Eco-camping in Darnius
ATTENTION: THIS PROJECT IS THE RESULT OF A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS BETWEEN CTRL+Z AND DIFFERENT AGENTS. FOR A CORRECT UNDERSTANDING, I INVITE YOU TO LEARN ABOUT THE OTHER SUBJECTS DIRECTLY INVOLVED: TERRITORY (SEVILLE).
Darnius is a small town in the Alt Empordà in the province of Figueres (Catalonia), located six kilometres from the border with France. It has privileged conditions for tourism, being in the heart of the Catalan Pyrenees and just two kilometres away from the “Pantá de Darnius” (formerly “de la Boadella”), a body of water where various facilities have already been activated for sporting enjoyment.
In 2012, the mayor of the town, as a private individual, asked us to formulate a proposal for the implementation of an “eco-campsite” on some land owned by him in the same municipal area. He had started promoting the project six years ago, long before he ever stood for election and won it.
The project, however, had been stalled for some time and that is why they came to us to activate it. The first step was then the drafting and approval of a special plan.
In 2012, the mayor of the town, as a private individual, asked us to formulate a proposal for the implementation of an “eco-campsite” on some land owned by him in the same municipal area. He had started promoting the project six years ago, long before he ever stood for election and won it.
The project, however, had been stalled for some time and that is why they came to us to activate it. The first step was then the drafting and approval of a special plan.
When we began to approach this reality, we began to reflect on the adjectives “sustainable” and “ecological” that often accompany the proposal both in previous documentation and in conversations. To the concepts that are commonly associated with sustainability, following our lines of work and personal vocations, we decided to add from the beginning social sustainability and the transfer of knowledge, concepts that are very important, if not trivial, for us.
After the positive experience with Coworking la Bañera, it seemed natural to propose a new collaboration with Territoria and this time in the field in which they are strongest: the analysis and planning of the territory and the landscape.
The plots that made up the site had a very particular shape, and sometimes had a steep topographical situation and very different vegetation cover, with the result that the situation itself defined different project areas with very different characteristics. How to approach and evaluate each of them within the framework of the overall planning of the campsite was the main challenge and at the same time what gave the proposal character and interest.
Precisely because of their topography, some of the areas, especially the steepest ones, had terraces with “dry stone” walls which, although in some cases in a poor state of conservation, represented, in our perception, a historical trace of the place to be preserved.
The dimensions of the proposal, almost 10 hectares, forced us to quantify and rethink the needs and to bring all the concepts applied on previous occasions to an urban scale. It was not just a matter of defining the application of a series of “alternative” or “sustainable” construction systems, but of designing an urban model in line with our vocations, and which could then coherently resolve the issues of supply, wastewater management, solid waste and energy efficiency on a large scale.
Our approach also aimed to reduce as far as possible the number of car journeys within the campsite itself and to create a distribution of common areas and facilities that would promote a stay in keeping with the ecological spirit of the campsite and also considering its relationship with the town and its surroundings.
All these aspects must be worked on within the guidelines established by the regulatory framework and at the same time within the guidelines of the campsite's functional programme, which was evolving as the project was being developed.
The dimensions of the proposal, almost 10 hectares, forced us to quantify and rethink the needs and to bring all the concepts applied on previous occasions to an urban scale. It was not just a matter of defining the application of a series of “alternative” or “sustainable” construction systems, but of designing an urban model in line with our vocations, and which could then coherently resolve the issues of supply, wastewater management, solid waste and energy efficiency on a large scale.
Our approach also aimed to reduce as far as possible the number of car journeys within the campsite itself and to create a distribution of common areas and facilities that would promote a stay in keeping with the ecological spirit of the campsite and also considering its relationship with the town and its surroundings.
All these aspects must be worked on within the guidelines established by the regulatory framework and at the same time within the guidelines of the campsite's functional programme, which was evolving as the project was being developed.
At the same time, the proposal had to be organised in such a way that it could be developed in phases, always maintaining class 1 for the campsite, in order to begin to amortise the initial investment as soon as possible, while continuing the development of the areas after the first phase.
The phased development was of particular interest to us because it would have allowed the construction of the bungalows to be carried out in a dynamic manner that would have included the transfer of knowledge.
In an area where a league of 17 associated municipalities is already active for the development of common lines of work and activities, it was hoped to build some of the campsite's facilities through a "Training and Employment Programme" for young people in the region. These activities will focus on buildings (bungalows) and landscaping elements.
Five different technologies were planned; for each one a pilot project would be built through a training workshop. The following units would be carried out by the local team under our supervision and monitoring of the work.
This would promote local employment and the implementation of green technologies in the area. Pilot projects would serve as a means of advertising and promoting the technologies themselves, and there would be a local availability of trained personnel in them.
The reinterpretation or application of different alternative techniques was considered, from straw bale construction to geodesic structures, including the superarobe and, of course, the “pedra sec”, typical of the region, which would be applied both to the bungalows and to the restoration and maintenance of the existing walls. We are convinced that the variety and uniqueness of the constructions is an attraction in itself.
These technologies would also be presented to the campsite's visitors, helping to spread the word, and the use of natural and recycled materials could be one of the reasons that would make this space a place to visit, adding value and helping to differentiate it from others.
It is important to note that the aim was not to build a series of singular cells scattered haphazardly throughout the territory, without considering their characteristics, but rather to arrange these pieces according to a scheme that promoted landscaping elements as elements of harmonious conjunction of the various parts.
When intervening in the territory, the aim was to try to adapt to it and modify only what was necessary. In this way, materials would be saved and less waste would be produced, while at the same time natural resources would be conserved.
The aim is to design tools and processes that bring together strategic concepts, elements and components within a framework or action plan that can be implemented and maintained with minimal resources. Thinking from the beginning about both construction and maintenance, both in terms of current needs and future needs.
As far as we are aware, due to political problems that were more related to the local sphere than to the nature or peculiarities of the proposal, the project could not be approved by the Danius City Council, despite having the approval of higher territorial level institutions.
It is a shame to see how a project of this kind, with the creation of a large number of direct and indirect jobs that it could have created at a local level, is stuck in partisan interests. Let us hope that the results of the next elections will establish a balance that will allow us to resume the proposal from where we left off.
The developer intended the project to represent a positive response to the current environmental and economic crisis. Unfortunately, the delay in development and political obstacles are undermining his enthusiasm, so much so that a few months ago he put the land up for sale and is now looking for another location, even outside of Spain.
Note:
Halfway through the drafting process we were surprised by the fires of the summer of 2012 that partially affected the land, personally I thought that this would have led to the cancellation of the proposal. Instead, the events became, for the promoter, an impulse, one more reason to invest in a region that was even more affected and in which, due to the magnitude of what happened, new energies needed to be grafted.
