Ceuta (Es)

2005

Europan 8

F.Gallo, I. Fera, M.Iannello, G. Scolaro, G. Ustica, C. Gianuario, T.Tona

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The Benzu area appears as a physical description for the concept of limit, its condition is of marginality to Ceuta’s territory, which is itself as a last piece of land of two continents, somehow illogically distant from both of them. The small urban centre rises up without any plan, and as a consequence it lacks mainly infrastructures and public features, places where people can define and recognize themselves as a community, except for the mosque, each building constitutes a single unit, marked by a different skylines and colours. Recognition of Benzu as a whole and of the people as individuals at the same time should be encouraged by means of the public facilities (cultural centre, library, a small auditorium, a children’s recreation centre, sport grounds), and, on the other hand, by the dwelling’s urban structure, developed around some of the principles the existing houses are based on. The gradual growth of the houses from an original core through juxtaposition is evident, as the importance given to open spaces, as a filter from the main road or as bigger garden squares surrounded by buildings. The project interprets these characters, adding to the spatial definition of the houses a temporal dimension: a few base elements are constructed in a first phase, with the enclosure wallma small part of the lot constitutes the minimum unit.