A fair in a park

“Architecture has a latent secondary intention: the idea of creating a paradise. This is the sole meaning of our works. If we did not constantly carry this ideal with us, all buildings would be simpler, trivial, and life would be… well, it would not be life. Every building, every architectural product, is a symbol of this intention and aims to demonstrate our desire to build an earthly paradise for humanity.” – The Architects’ Paradise – Alvar Aalto

The proposal finds significance in the site’s unique historic context and location – its proximity to Carrion river and Javier Cortes Park that serves as a crucial green space for residents and its location at the heart of La Vega de Valdavia, where it continues to bridge modernity and tradition.

This multi-use space, with its main building, pergolas, and adjacent municipal sports center, once formed a unique urban “still life” of diverse forms and proportions. Today, the site is disparate and underused. The proposal unifies the fragmented fairground with the city. It utilises material and configuration to facilitate this. Continuous Albero flooring and reused bricks unify spaces, while the hall’s ground floor opens to revitalize urban life. Pergolas and xeriscaped plazas with water features and play areas further maintain and extend the continuity.

The proposed spatial configuration defines a coexistence with the pre-existing structure. A hierarchy is established by creating a core with programmatic pieces that serve the rest of the dependencies. The porches allow the exterior spaces to be occupied. These additions and the programs attached to them organize the circulation linearly and facilitate the transformation of the spaces as necessary. The central multipurpose hall is extended by creating two plazas that reconfigure the plot and establish, along with the front connection plaza, a total appropriation of the surroundings. A typological scheme of access from intermediate foyer zones is curated to provide permeability to both the porch and the intermediate spaces.

A series of interventions improve the spatial and perceptual conditions of the building. The skylights act as bioclimatic chimneys, providing light and comfort to the central space. The entire thermal envelope – The roof, enclosures, and main facade – of the building is reconfigured and installation systems are redistribute, transforming the image of the building. The 3 lateral porches will organize the perimeter of the building and provide reprieve from the sun. They provide lateral bracing to the existing structure and allow the ties to be removed. Finally, the front porch, which is twice as wide as the others, appropriates the plot boundary to configure an access loggia.

The project reignites the entrepreneurial spirit of the 20th-century concrete industrial hall that once anchored development across the Carrión River through sensitive adaptive reuse. The capacity for transformation of the various spaces that make up the floor plan, combined with the multiplicity of possibilities offered by the structural configuration of the floor plan itself, offers an endless array of architectural possibilities. This project seeks Paradise by transcending its functionality.


Rehabilitation of Saldana fairground (A fair in a park) | date : 2024 | location : Castilla y Leon, Spain | surface : 6.833 m2 | team : Madhusudhan Chalasani, Bruno Sirabo, Vamsi Krishna, Rohith Therala | client : City council of Saldana | status : competition | competition : second prize