Thermal Park in Dolores

Like the typical urban settlements of the Americas, where a reticular grid is laid-out over virgin land, we decided on a large-scale landscape intervention for the design of this thermal park. Rather than creating a large recreational lake as the competition rules required, we reduced the size of the central excavation and created a grid of water channels to allow the visitors to explore the complex by canoe. The park incorporates elements taken from classical landscape design, such as symmetry axis, an artificial mountain (the land recovered from excavations), follies, water parties, bridges and a maze, reused here in a contemporary park that establishes a new dynamic between program and landscape. The architecture is presented as a harmonious ensemble of stealthy volumes whose serious and repetitive outer appearance houses a wide range of diverse architectural compositions within.