Redevelopment of Benzu Bay, Spain, 2006

Benzu is a fishing village between Tangiers and Ceuta in front of the Strait of Gibraltar in a protected natural reserve. It is a ‘corridor' village contained between the sea and the mountains, where the requirement is to increase the housing density and develop the bay. The project proposes to divert the main road that runs through the village severing it from the sea, and to create a large open area on the bay, bordering it with dwellings on the mountain side. The idea is to keep the spirit of ‘wilderness' of the place, with a layout based on the creation of functional ‘spaces' or ‘isolated areas', placed in strategic points to organize a course and viewpoints.