Alfacs Campsite in Alcanar (Tarragona)

Bajet Giramé  JAAS Julià Arquitectes Associats 


A collaborative work of the Barcelona firms of Pau Bajet, Maria Giramé (Bajet Giramé) and Manuel Julià (JAAS), the renovation of Alfacs is being carried out gradually, in yearly phases, so that this campsite of the Catalonian municipality of Alcanar, in the comarca of Montsiá, can keep operating, with no interruptions or interferences.

A street opens out to the sea, giving continuity to a descending sinuous road. Two new central buildings are anchored to walls that form stepped terraces for campers, some of them preexisting and others newly added. One of them (reception and store) faces the entryway, the other (restaurant) unfolds toward the shore. The terraces and the walls dilate here and there to accommodate auxiliary pavilions designed as discreet infrastructural bays for different activities. Planted on this artificial topography are 24 wooden cabins with ventilated enclosures made of sawn boards fastened to exoskeletons that serve as verandas and supports for photovoltaic panels.

The concatenation of ambiguous spaces that dilute the boundaries between inside and outside has the effect of energizing this holiday landscape built with local stone, concrete eroded by water, and prefabricated blocks of rammed earth. In addition, what over fifty years ago was a small urbanized cove occupied by camping grounds has been restored, filled with new sand, and equipped with a swimming pool embedded into a circular retaining wall to create a mini-beach shielded from the sea.