Gordon Swapp
My office placement at the Diputación Provincial de Córdoba involved working on the design development of a small public realm project in Belalcázar, which is 90 kilometers north of Córdoba. This included designing a bus shelter and slip road for a budget of €150,000. I presented a variety of options to the Major of Belalcázar with the aid of models, drawings, and photographs. In addition I also liaised with a local metal fabricator to develop construction details. Invariably this sort of interaction with local expertise helped to improve the overall design. I also had ample opportunities to speak Spanish, especially as my work colleagues responded generously with their time, ensuring that I was included in their conversations. As a consequence I was able to gain a deeper insight into the local culture, which enriched the whole experience.
This shows a card model of the proposed bus shelter, with a photo of a conical granite stone (formerly used for crushing olives in the production of olive oil), and a cylindrical announcement post, both of which inspired / informed the design of the bus shelter.
This shows a view inside a metalwork fabrication workshop close to the site, where the local father and son team welded up pieces of metal to show how the shelter could be constructed.
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General view of a variety of models built at different scales.
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