Totalan | Spain | Community
Totalan is an endemic community at the epicenter of Iberian culture. Totalan is a geographically rural, agricultural society, with an ageing population and a migrating youth. It is a town with strong traditions written into the material landscape in Islamic and Spanish construction styles. The focus of this project was to embed a plaza inside the spatially dense configuration of Totalan’s urban fabric. Historically, there has been an absence of a police force and an absence of religious authority. This endemic quality crystallizes the Totalanian bond within the community beyond the influence of state institutions. This political geography is re-enforced by strong Islamic cultural influences, born of the historically reigning caliphate, once found in this Andalusian region.
In this design it was imperative to sustain the endemic relationships between the people’s cultural heritage and their collective ownership of space, while simultaneously introducing a new spatial organization within the town’s rustic integrity.
Conceptually, this was done by expanding upon the local activities and rural craft types found within the town. The focus was to design a physical landscape for a projected density of incoming tourists during the spring time. In this new market locals could sell their produce to people driving through the town.
The projects main foci were social and economic sustainability. It is important to emphasize social sustainability in relationship to styles of design, that responded to the visual traditions and historical context of Totalan. Historical references are tied to Andalusian-Islamic tessellations found in the native laces and tiles and through the selection of native materials. The materials are all locally manufactured, thus economically cutting costs and lowering our carbon foot print in transportation.