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Arquitectura, diseño y urbanismo |
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Francisco de P. Icaza Square is located on P. Icaza Street between Cordova and Pedro Carbo Streets, and it has a site area of 1000 mt2.
Its creation is due to the location of the new Metrovia station (stage 1) as part of the massive transport project carried out by the urban transportation office of the Municipality of Guayaquil, the idea was to create a public space bound to become the icon of a modern and progressive city and that besides including the station, it may also be a place for the enjoyment of the community using this service.
For the elaboration of the architectural program, it was analyzed where this
new space would be inserted; this is mainly characterized by commercial and
financial paraphernalia. Taking this into consideration, the necessary physical
elements that respond to the requirements of the users and the sustainability
of the project were designed, being subjected to a concept of modern, transparent,
and avant-garde design.
The Metrovia station is located on the east sector of the square, parallel to
Pedro Carbo Street with an area of 105 mt2. Its design is conceived as a “transparent
box" with the minimum possible impact on the urban environment and nearby
buildings, allowing blending between the east-west visual axes.
Its constructive system fuses main steel structures, aluminum and glass structures, and a system of isolated, self-supporting, aluminum panels.
The entrance to the station is through a ramp located toward the interior of the square, which leads to boarding module. On each side of this ramp 2 water mirrors have been designed to reinforce the ethereal concept of the station, recreating sensations of freshness, purity and naturalness to the assembly, all this supplemented by the bamboo used as landscaping resource.
The layout of the pavement design consists on a checkered pattern, in grid form, orthogonally oriented to Pedro Carbo Street, linking it to Cordoba Street achieving this way a visual blend between east and west, and between the north building front and the south building front.
The materials used are; multicolored slate stone in the main checkered pattern and 40x40 cm beige-colored gritty stone in the interior patches
Toward the west of the square, a platform raising 20 cm above the level of the general pavement has been designed; its lining is made of multicolored slate stone. On this platform 3 kiosks are located for cafeterias and their own tables and chairs with the purpose of offering an additional service for the public.
The kiosks design avant-garde proposal tries to fade out their traditional commercial character, fusing them with the pergolas in a single sculptural assembly.
The pergolas are of stainless steel structure having lattices of this same material to filter solar light, and also a polycarbonate UV filtering roof for rain protection. This way good comfort conditions for users within a defined, harmonic, and functional space are guaranteed.
Additionally the square has the corresponding urban furniture such as lampposts whose design refers to pergolas, garbage bins, metallic bollards (located toward Cordova street, as a virtual way of defining space), and totem for signs.