WHY THIS LOCATION?

The condition of the territory has been a basic idea to develop a project that aims to have a global character, but at the same time being sensitive to the particular events of the immediate surroundings.

The area next to the small church of the Virgen del Puerto,(Plasencia, Extremadura), has been the chosen loca-tion for the development of a project of one of the R+D centers that will be part of the new strategy for the development of the AL-EX region.

The geographical position has been a vital for transhumance and pilgrims Spanish routes.While we seek to operate globally, but taking into account the local character of the area, one of the biggest attractions of itself are the routes I talked about previ-ously. These routes used to connect the region of Extremadura with the rest of Spain.

In the first place we find the Ruta or Via de la Plata, founded in Roman times, it was a road that run from north to south through Spain and Extremadura in parallel with the Roman roads in Portugal which crossed from north to south the Alentejo region.

On the other hand and in a later period of time we find the “cañadas reales” or cattle trails founded by King Alfonso X in 1273. Of the 10 major “caña-das” in Spain, 6 of them end in Extremadura and two of these intersect in Jerte Valley area with the Via de la Plata.

This is one of the reasons that lead me to choose this location for the school of organic farming. Another reason is the fact that one of the purposes of these “caña-das” was to promote the biodiversity of the areas where they passed through. If we associate this with the very beginning fixed requirements for the location of R & D centers and superimpose this initial layering process map, with the map of the actual “cañadas” and La Ruta de la Plata, we obtain the location of the school of eco-logic agriculture.

NODE FOR THE CENTER

HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY

VIA DE LA PLATA

RAILROAD TRACK

CAÑADAS REALES

WHICH IS THE STRATEGY?

The strategy is to read the project through flows. Urban flows (the car, people, bicycles ...) are produced in the north-south axis of the project, and depending on its use, whether public or private will go on either side of the center. The private use will have branches in order to connect the territory with the nucleus of the study areas, while public use will branch to join the center with different urban and activity centers in the AL-EX region. Metropolitan rail flows that connect the center at the regional level are also produced in the north-south axis. The intersection of these flows with actual “cañadas” in the area and the Ruta de la Plata crystallizes in the node of the new school of organic farming.

The aim of the project is to promote ecological agriculture and livestock and the consumption of its products. This school will therefore be formed by an area of study and research (private area) and areas where courses are taught to implement environmental practices on the farms in the region. But this objective has a more wide view; one of its aims is to introduce the organic farm products outside the borders of the region and another one to promote organic farming therefore the area will become a benchmark for further work. It is for this reason that the project is located in a so deter-mined area, to support the transmission of information and the flow of visitors, students and workers trying diluting the wall that is the railway and transforming it into the connecting axis of these ideas.

The center is located in a strategic emplacement and it is conceived as a multi-layer infrastructure where exchanges occur between transport, people…, and between the two parts of the school (private and public). The infrastructural traces of the train will help to develop new activities not only along it and at both sides but also parasitizing on and under them, through a system of overlapping fostering relationships between school staff, students, interested people in the subject and travelers.