A giant flood-proof park: this is the winning project for the Three Chimneys

BarcelonaThe transformation project for the Three Chimneys of Sant Adrià de Besòs continues to take shape. Following the initial major presentation last March of what the interior of the iconic turbine hall of the former thermal power plant should look like – the future Catalonia Media City Now, its surroundings are also beginning to take shape. The Catalan government (Generalitat) announced this Saturday the winning proposal in the competition to design the future Three Chimneys Coastal Park, a green space of nearly 90,000 square meters in the Besòs Delta. One of its key features is its flood-proof design.

This is one of the characteristics of the project developed by the winners of the competition promoted by the Besòs Consortium: a temporary joint venture (UTE) formed by the landscape architecture firms Landlab and Aldayjover and the engineering firm Aquatica. Their design aims to turn the area's ecological challenges into an opportunity. The proposed park, covering 89,502 m², is not only a large green space on this coastal border between Sant Adrià de Besòs and Badalona, ​​but is also designed as an ecological infrastructure capable of managing potential flooding, improving environmental quality, and promoting biodiversity. Through nature-based solutions—such as the sponge berm promenade, dunes, lagoons, and sustainable drainage systems—integrated water cycle management and active protection against the effects of climate change are achieved. Furthermore, the park seamlessly integrates territorial infrastructure such as the Levante interceptor sewer, which will be relocated from its current position within the park.

Another feature of the park, which aspires to become a new climate refuge for the metropolitan area, will be its Mediterranean pine-based vegetation. The aim is to enhance the social use of this large, currently underutilized space around the Three Chimneys. Therefore, new sports facilities will also be added, and the project's development will be accompanied by a participatory process to design various areas of the park, including spaces for social use and natural habitats. The regeneration of the area will also be used to create new spaces for riverine, marine, or urban habitats in the more distant areas near the mouth of the Besòs River.

Experience in large parks

The experience of the various firms has been key to winning the competition. In the case of Aldayjover, they are recognized for their work designing a new relationship between cities and rivers that seeks better coexistence and aims to break with the idea of flooding as a catastrophe. They are also the winners of another large green space that is to be developed in Barcelona in the coming years: the large park of the future Sagrera station.

As for LandLab, their works include projects with significant importance in Barcelona, ​​such as the plaza formed by the intersection of Enric Granados and Consell de Cent streets in the Eixample superblock. However, their portfolio also includes other projects related to the regeneration of coastal facades, such as those they have designed for Palma beach in Mallorca, or in Soto de la Marina, Cantabria.