Ten working sessions were enough for the jury of the Port - City competition to unanimously decide on the four proposals that, in their opinion, best organize the port installation of the capital and its interrelation with the center of the capital.
According to the jury, the Arrecife Marina is the maritime front with the greatest development possibilities in the Canary Islands, therefore, the reflection that the competition implies is attractive, but at the same time risky.
First place
The winning idea is authored by the Madrid-based firm Jerónimo Junquera Asociados. The jury highlights that it rationalizes the characteristics of the urban front space of the system of uses and spaces linked to the port authority, which recovers the quality of the reefs and increases the water surface by 45,000 square meters and that it frees up a large public space of 123,000 square meters without building and integrating the pre-existing singular elements in it.
The jury considers, with respect to the winning proposal, that one should reflect on the convenience of eliminating the beach, looking for a solution more in line with the Arrecife coastline, allowing the possibility of moving the sports dock area to that sector.
Likewise, it considers it convenient, in relation to the approach of the building on the Naos dike, to reduce its density.
Opinion of a jury
One of the members of the jury, José Manuel Onieva, representative of the Official College of Civil Engineers, Channels and Ports, explained to La Voz digital that what he liked most about the winning idea was the integrating proposal that it makes from the Charco de San Ginés area along the entire Naos bank. He added that other solutions proposed a lot of building on that maritime border, however, the idea of Junquera Asociados invites the pedestrian to integrate and walk facing the sea. What he didn't like: "The beach, we think it is not an adequate solution for the coast, but it is simply not done," Onieva commented.
Next phase
Of the four proposals, the Port Authority will have to develop the project that integrates them for its final execution.
The big question: When?. It is not even known when it will be commissioned yet. The only certainty is that to develop the project framework it will be necessary to combine public and private investment.
The approved ideas are not definitive and many of their contents could be rethought, according to the president of the Port Authority, Emilio Mayoral, who was in Lanzarote this Tuesday presenting the result of the contest together with the members of the jury.
The mayor of Arrecife, María Isabel Déniz, pointed out that the City Council and the port authority are willing to listen to suggestions and that in any case the result of the contest is not understood as a final word.
Monetary recognition
The winners receive a cash prize as follows: Jerónimo Junquera Asociados, 40,000 euros; GadaP - Bordes, S.L, 30,000 euros; and 20,000 euros for Guillermo Vásquez Consuegra and Gestyarq S.L., third and fourth contestants respectively. The four works, in the opinion of the jury, offer strong ideas, which can serve the Port Authority of Las Palmas as guidelines for the future development and planning of this meeting area of the city of Arrecife with its port.