The park will appear on the territory of the former railway tracks: in connection with the arrival of the high-speed train line in the city, all tracks were removed into a tunnel, and in the vacated space it was decided to create a Central Park (23 hectares) and a residential area with squares and gardens (43 hectares). The project budget will amount to 73 million euros.
The creation of such a large district from scratch, moreover, in the center of the city is a rare case in Europe, so even a competition for the design of a park alone attracted the attention of leading architects. Among the five finalists, besides Gustafson, were the bureaus of Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, FOA and West 8.
The winning project is based on the local pottery tradition, the authors explain. The idea of a "bowl" unites separate spaces of the park; it is complemented by the theme of water. Each of the "vessels" contains one of the subjects: art, outdoor activities, people, landscapes, history and cultural memory. Water, relief, plants and existing buildings became the material for creating separate "bowls". For example, in Arts Square, existing reconstructed buildings, an Arts Center, a library, a visitor center and café, and a natural amphitheater will be surrounded by a spectacular body of water. The Huerta Terrace Garden will remind you of the horticultural tradition of the region, on the South Square, with the help of thin lines of lamps and video projections, an atmosphere of movement and speed will be recreated, reminiscent of the “transport” past of the park, the Fragrant Garden will be dedicated to the scents of the Mediterranean, and so on.
The competition finalists, West 8 Architects, also drew on local traditions, but directly. They borrowed from the usual Valencian gardens and patios the themes of pleasure and fertility, conveyed through a series of zones with ponds, trees and flowers: shady alleys, orange groves, gardens with an original layout, lakes, ponds, islands, fountains, streams, waterfalls … The park is connected to the surrounding areas, and its southern entrance faces the historic city center and the river.
