Paradise re-discovered


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Tamara Arroniz Marín, José Aguilar Martínez


La Manga became a very popular place for Spanish tourism. It is a privileged place to be, located between two seas that La Manga itself creates, the Mediterranean Sea and the Mar Menor. A project was planned to live in a responsible way this unique and natural environment, but the desire for money and corruption were his death sentence and mass urbanism the crime’s weapon. But it is not too late to return to the paradise that we all remember.
The massification of the manga does not allow to appreciate the unique form that the manga has, where from any point you can see the two seas, but now, with the buildings it is difficult to find where the sea is. Eliminating the massive buildings and maintaining the original buildings and those that do not have a great impact on the land, we managed to create a new paradise. But, where do we place all the people in the destroyed buildings?
We create a building using recycled materials from the demolitions at the end of the manga, we can restore all displaced people. The other materials resulting from the demolitions will be used to create street furniture such as viewpoints and benches. The project returns to La Manga to its early years, erasing all massive construction that deteriorates the nature and shows the project of Bonet Castellana as he imagined it, a paradise between two seas.

old photos:
- archivofotograficodelamanga.com
- Baldellou, Miguel Ángel (1978), "La obra de Bonet en la arquitectura española", In: La obra de Antonio Bonet, Ediciones Summa, Buenos Aires, pp. 77-130
- Fernández Nieto, M. A., "Conciliar vacaciones y paisaje. El sueño de monet Castellana para la Manga del Mar Menor.", in escuelaarquitectura.es
old satellite photos: SitMurcia
old aerial photos: archivofotograficodelamanga.com
original plans for Bonet Castellana Project: Bonet, Antonio, "La Manga del Mar Menor Murcia", In: Arquitectura España Hoteles, issue 121/Nov 1969, pp. 2-14


The Project

The Bonet Castellana project created a linear tourist city, leaving space to respect the nature of the place. A tower with a shopping center would be built every kilometer and low-rise housing would be built in the intermediate spaces.








The Construction

The first phase of the project of Bonet Castellana was built, "Los Cubanitos", "The Hexagonal complex", "The Galua Hotel" and "Dos Mares Club". The project was well recognized nationally and internationally. La Manga became a popular place, some movies and advertisements were shot in their buildings.














The Evolution

La Manga became a popular place, so it began to be massively built, the Bonet Castellana project was forgotten because the original project gave little proffit. Corruption and the desire for money helped create what we have today. All this caused a deterioration of the natural environment, destabilizing the fauna of the area and causing the natural disaster we have now.



















The (Re)Discovery

The project tries to restore the environment of La Manga as it was at the origin, respecting the natural environment, maintaining buildings with architectural value and historical buildings.
The idea is based on demolishing the massive buildings, valuing the Bonet Castellana project and regenerating the destroyed natural environment.






© COASTAL DOMAINS 2019-20