A total of 21 temporary installations occupied the public space of Logroño during the tenth edition of Concéntrico, the international architecture and design festival held in the capital of La Rioja province. All demonstrated architecture’s transformative capability as a tool for improving the relationship between the urban space and its inhabitants.

Many public spaces in towns and cities suffer from a lack of shade in summer. The asphalt and lack of vegetation mean that during the hottest months of the year, these spaces become excessively hot and impassable. In response to this problem, architecture offers a solution with flexible paving stones, evergreen trees, solar protection systems and mechanisms that promote adiabatic cooling.

This is the strategy used by the Belgian collective Make it rain in their installation Jardín de ladrillos (Brick Garden). The project involves cooling a courtyard by evaporating water on contact with brick cladding. Users have to wet the ground with watering cans to cool the area.

Take a look at the pictures!