Amid Ashes:
A firefighting intervention project in the Sierra de Mijas
Imagen de proyecto
The research was born from the interest of studying and mapping the landscapes derived from natural catastrophes.
Specifically in Malaga, the fires are studied: the composition of the landscape prior to the great forest fire in the Sierra de Mijas and the same after the disaster is recorded. Flora, fauna, geology, hydrography, climate, topography... Each of the elements that made up the territory and formed the ecosystem.
A question arises: How to intervene in these landscapes taking into account their fragility?
Avance del fuego
Puntos de muestreo. Análisis del ecosistema
A dispersed mechanism of light architectures, strategically distributed throughout the territory. A chain operation that accelerates the response process to the appearance of a forest fire, through the correct detection and mitigation of its impact and, subsequently, the complete regeneration of the pre-existing ecosystem. This mechanism is composed of parts that are specifically required in very specific locations.
Plano de situación estratégica
Intervention #1: Fire observation towers
It refers to Stage 1: Detection.
For the placement of the towers a previous study is carried out, in which the visual basins of the Sierra are analyzed and those strategic points are selected from which a greater visual coverage is obtained, from a height of 15m, which will be the height of the towers. From bottom to top there will be: the second floor, open to the public as a viewpoint and for bird watching in the area, the second floor, a private room for the worker, and the third floor, for observation and detection of the fire.
Detalle Constructivo: estructura y envolvente
Plantas programáticas
Each of the towers has an interior wood structure and a tubular metal structure on the exterior, which supports a metal mesh envelope.
Estrategia constructiva
Intervention #2: Proliferation and irrigation devices
It refers to Stage 4: ecosystem recovery.
This device is designed to collect, on the one hand, rainwater, and on the other hand, water from several storm ponds scattered throughout the Sierra, and use it to irrigate the environment and proliferate the different native species previously planted in these areas. In this way, these mechanisms will serve as “green spots” that will eventually proliferate and the vegetation will colonize the Sierra again.
Localizaciones y especies vegetales
Dispositivo de proliferación y riego
Intervention #3: Biological protection center. Arenales Quarry
The biological protection center, located in the Arenales Quarry, a currently disused limestone and white marble quarry, located on the perimeter of the burned area and at an altitude of 670m.
The project is located on the upper terraces of the quarry, with a south-east orientation. There are 4 main modules:
Planta general
Module A, a space for the organization of workshops open to the public, with a didactic and awareness-raising purpose about the natural environment. It also has viewpoints and a cafeteria area.
Module B, where the research areas related to the entire ecosystem of the mountain range are located.
Module C, which includes the seed banks, greenhouses and all the plantations of native species that will later be transplanted to the territory.
Sección E-O
And finally, module D, the reaction station, which is intended to control and mitigate the impact of the fire, as well as to reduce risks. This is why it has a program for extinguishing fires, facilities for personnel and parking for extinguishing trucks and vehicles for collecting material, such as burnt wood, which must be removed from the forest for its conservation.
Detalles Constructivos
Planta zoom 1
Axonometría constructiva
The project works as a promoter of the ecosystem in its purest state, as an act of symbiosis between the mountains and architecture, at a time when the fragility of the environment requires this architecture for its survival. It tries to identify and measure the material loss as well as the loss of the ecological value of the place in order to recover as much as possible the richness of the environment, both material and natural and ecological; identify which are the new waste materials that have replaced the pre-fire nature and take advantage of them as far as possible.
Imágen de proyecto
Trabajo de Fin de Máster, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, ETSAM (UPM).