The project explores the dichotomy between the solid, ageless construction, of the existing Nasrid tower, made by anonymous craftsmen, and the provisional, light, degradable nature of the contemporary. The additions to the original building are conceived as future ruins, removable, temporary objects with a short live span that will deteriorate and eventually replaced. This is not a conventional conservation project, but one that reuses and recycles. The Tower is like an “object trouvé”, a found object from past times precise whose precise functioning is unknown to us. The intervention explores the tension between its original use and the unplanned future ones to be implemented.
The original entry to the tower was four meters above ground level. To restore this access, a new weathering steel staircase is built. It is conceived as a light, removable object with a contrasting nature with the existing building. In opposition to the solid, quadrangular materiality of the tower, the staircase is a rounded, rusty, temporary structure. Like a foreign object, its materiality reinforces its provisional nature. This steel cylinder is punctured in order to create controlled views into the landscape. In a sort of “promenade architectural” through the structure, visitors are invited to enjoy the beauty of this barren landscape lashed by the wind. The design is also a reflection on the relationship between landscape and the architectural object. Without the barren background encircling this viewpoint, the project could not be understood. All the additions and new elements placed on the landscape are conceived as foreign, autonomous objects of a removable nature, placed directly on the ground emphasizing a sense of otherness in relationship with the existing remains.
