The Urban Beach

Abstract

The living standard of the people in Alamar
is missing quality. Although many issues,
like drinking water, have been solved locally,
but a stable electricity infrastructure cannot
be provided by the people themselves. The
instability of the electricity is traceable to
the construction period. Alamar was built
on the infrastructure of its previous plan.
Plan ‘El Olympo’ was meant to become an
American style suburb. The current 100.000
inhabitants of Alamar are living in self-built
prefab apartment blocks, which are built on
the infrastructure designed for only 1/5th of
the population. Subsequently, this overuse
and material scarcity in times of construction
resulted in the instability of the electricity
net to withstand even the smallest storms.
Heavy rainfall or strong winds can already
result in power cuts. These black-outs can
last up to three days. For a country that is
on the edge of new prosperity, improvement
of the living standard is impossible on such
an instable foundation. Imagine Alamar
growing in numbers of inhabitants on such
infrastructure, the first thing we need to do is
providing a stable electricity flow. Secondly,
due to this material scarcity, the public tissue
was whittled.
The public issues are highly visible on the
shoreline of Alamar. The empty green strip
along the sea was meant to be the district
dedicated to sport and leisure. The site
is the end of Alamar’s major north-south
connection, connecting the highway with
the sea. The road is surrounded by the few
public buildings in Alamar. This location has
the ability to carry a public catalyst for the
rest of the coastal park. Although Alamar is
one of the only new towns with a waterfront,
but almost every big city in Cuba is located
along the sea.
The sea could become the biggest source
of energy. The Cuban administration is
willing to invest in renewable energy, but
this will not solve the problem of energy
availability during storms. The program
is twofold; storing energy for periods of
difficulty and when not in use, providing a
public connection between land and sea,
by realizing a pier. This pier will function not
only as a bridge to the water, but also as a
platform which will carry the public functions
needed for the coastal park. Both programs
will be combined as an experience. The
water-energy lane will connect the water
basin of the pumped hydro storage system
with the discovery center on the end of the
pier.