Ágora Social and Cultural Center, Municipal Library and Theater
Ágora is an integrated and intergenerational facility to provides effective responses to social demands, to generate participatory and relational synergies where citizens feel their expectations represented, their needs satisfied and collective ties strengthened through architecture, among other means.
Thus, these services are housed in a building, though its true vocation is closer to the qualities of an open public space such as an ágora, capable of representing the daily hopes of citizens
Local
Spain
Á Coruña City Council, À Coruña, Galicia, Spain
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
ERDF : European Regional Development Fund
For the period 2007-2013, the general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund provided that the ESDF and ESF supported actions in the context of the Convergence objective (for least-developed regions) and the Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective (which tries to anticipate and promote economic changes in order to meet challenges).
The funding supported the policies of Member States to refocus the Lisbon Strategy on growth and employment. Such policies are linked to the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BEPG), the European Employment Strategy (EES), and employment policy guidelines. More specifically, they aimed at:
(1) reaching full employment;
(2) increasing quality and productivity at work;
(3) promoting social inclusion, in particular the access of disadvantaged people to employment
(4) reducing national, regional and local employment disparities.
No
Yes
2012-01-29
As individual(s) in partnership with organisation(s)
First name: Laura Last name: Cedrón Gender: Female Please describe the type of organization(s) you work in partnership with: The Ágora Social and Cultural Center is part of of the local web of cultural and social instruments displayed by the A Coruña City Council. Laura Cedrón is currently the Coordinator and Director of the Ágora Social and Cultural Center and, as such, is in charge of its management and activities Nationality: Spain Function: Director/Coordinator of the Ágora Social and Cultural Center Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Avenida Gramela nº17, San Pedro de Visma Town: A Coruña Postal code: 15010 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 981 18 98 88 E-mail:agora@coruna.es Website:https://www.coruna.gal/agora
The Ágora is social and cultural center conceived, built, and run by the City Council of A Coruña in 2012. Ten years later, we can evaluate the impact and success of its goals through public reports and data of its current activity. Located in the periphery of the urban area, almost on its outer limit, this public infrastructure was conceived as the node of a new urban development of san Pedro de Visma, a neighborhood with structural social problems (domestic violence, inequality, unemployment, low educational rates, etc.). But also, as a balancing device capable of attracting the attention from other areas of the city and, consequently, an urban integrator.
The city ran an open, international, and secret architectural competition in 2007, won by the office of rojo/fernandez-shaw, arquitectos. The competition was structured after a comprehensive sociological research project on the needs of the area and its inhabitants under the name URBANAC. The study provided an insightful radiography on its social, human, and educational problems, out of which the architectural principles for the new Ágora Center were conceived:
an open architecture based on the programmatic principles of flexibility and adaptability and an aesthetic image of integration in the rural and natural context.
The Ágora was conceived as a place rather than as a building, a meeting point, a node capable of re-structuring around itself the weakened social fabric, as part of a civic network.
If originally the Library, the Theater and the Municipal Attention Centre were the driving forces, in these 10 years of activity the Ágora has expanded its educational, training and integration activities, as the official reports show. Finally, the original conception of it as a social aggregator and a local reference has been achieved.
In short, through its architecture and its activities combined, it has provided the citizens of the Agra del Orzan with an identity and a sense of belonging.
Social aggregator
Open infrastructure
Local and neighborhood identity
Integration through education and culture
Trans-generational
The Master Plan of San Pedro de Visma – in which the Ágora is inscribed as a social and urban catalyst – was yet another step towards the domestication of the local agricultural and productive landscape that surrounds A Coruña.
To counterbalance the logic of conventional modern urban form, we proposed an architecture adapted to the original topography and to the local landscape. And through the iconography of the natural and agricultural context, we aimed at preserving the environment and the ambient memory that builds the identity of Galicia
Conceived as an architecture integrated with the soft hills and agricultural fields that surround the city and as a visual extension of them, the roof is modeled as a topography, covered with green and hydroponic systems, recreating a simulated and decorative fiction associated with the original and natural state of the site.
Thus, the ‘Magic Mountain of the Ágora’ (the name of the architectural project) can be described as a green and protective shell, thus becoming a symbolical reminder of the history and tradition of a region built out of the natural and rural environment.
Sustainability determined the construction technology deployed, the choice of materials as well as the environmental control strategy.
Thus, the use of local laminated wood for the roof structure, a significant feature of its architecture. And the careful analysis of the local climate and its environmental performance allowed for the implementation of a sustainable interior control system based on natural ventilation, a heating system based on radiating floor and no air-condition.
But sustainability was mainly addressed in the programmatic goals established by URBANAC, and ten years later we can evaluate positively the results of such criteria: between February 2012 and May 2015, 208.177citizens attended cultural events, 516.861 used the library (reading workshops should be highlighted) and 28.567 were attended by Social Services at the Ágora.
Two main principles drive the architectural organization: one is aesthetical, the search for a balance between the new architecture and the contextual landscape in which it sits; the second is programmatic, the requirement to allocate 10.000 sqm of several interrelated and yet independent and different functions oriented to the public use.
On the outside, the Ágora is configured as a fragmented system of parts grouped under a green roof, whose folds and tilted planes simulate the natural topography of the rural environment. Inside, however, it is open and modular, a system of workshops and rooms adaptable to multiple uses and configurations. And, in order to achieve the much needed flexibility and adaptability of the container, both the circulation and the supporting structure were moved to the perimeter.
But if architecture’s form is fragmented on the outside and dependent on the accidents of the existing topography, inside a glass enclosure surrounds in a homogeneous system of open and transparent precincts offered as public, civic and gathering spaces.
Consequently, the aesthetic program pivots of this dichotomy: a green envelope on the outside and a luminous comfortable interior, open, transparent and accessible without restrictions.
In the words of Laura Cedrón (Director of the Ágora) to the newspaper La Voz de Galicia on February 13, 2022, “The architecture of the building, with its high ceilings and open-plan spaces, is bright, bright and warm, and the friendly nature of the staff contributes to this.”
Detached from the ground to sustain the physical and natural balances of the original topography and landscape, the green crust of the Ágora contains a system of flexible and adaptable spaces that have finally demonstrated its integration into the local and social context by becoming a reference to the civic, educational and cultural life of the area and a symbolic feature in a neighborhood that ten years ago had no positive identity.
As stated in the its 'Statement of Principles', the Ágora is:
'a meeting place for debate'
A center as such must be permeable and go beyond its walls (physical and metaphorical) to make what happens around it, its own and thus work on current hot topics such as social policies, multiculturalism, environmental commitment, sustainability, solidarity, etc. along with participation, social awareness is important. hence, one of the objectives is the production of a public sphere, a participatory space and a meeting place in which to present and represent the debates that interest society.
'plural and inter-generational'
As a meeting and debate point, Ágora is a plural and inter-generational platform in which the work of various areas and councils is combined in a transversal way and is also a space open to groups, cultural and neighborhood associations, independent creators and programmers. for this reason, we can say that Ágora's audience is made up of large majorities and multiple minorities and each of them must be satisfied in many different ways.
'about differences and similarities'
Intense citizen participation, with its differences and similarities, agreements and disagreements, is a fundamental part of the founding program of Àgora as meeting point for large majorities, multiple minorities and varied sensitivities. its favors a model that feeds on the questions that interest both creators in particular and society in general, and that allows different voices to interact in public space.
'and negotiation of knowledge'
Beyond the model concerned with disseminating art or knowledge, an institution that encourages the negotiation of knowledge and meaning between different sectors of the public is more profitable socially, culturally and artistically.
This is how Ágora is capable of producing polyphonic stories issued by a multitude of social and cultural agents and rooted in the context and capable of reinforcing a sense of belonging and community identity.
For Ágoras ‘working model’, displayed through is architectural resources and its plural program of activities, culture is not only about works of art but, above all, the relationships that different people establish with them. in the same way, a cultural institution is not a building, service or a sequence of activities, but an exercise of intelligence and emotional sensitivity when establishing relationships with citizens. Thus, the goals are:
"To generate participatory synergies"
The Ágora is an open space in which to generate participatory and relational synergies where citizens feel their expectations represented, their needs satisfied and collective ties strengthened through the relationships between knowledge and society.
"To encourage transversality"
Encompassing the different resources of the center, the activities offered are intermixed transversely. Thus, a workshop can lead to an exhibition, a seminar to a play and a library activity —which in turn can provide documentation for the aforementioned examples— in an event that takes place in the covered square.
"Differences and similarities"
An intense citizen participation, with its differences and similarities, agreements and disagreements, is a fundamental part of the founding program of the Ágora as a meeting point for large majorities, multiple minorities and varied sensitivities.
This favors a model of a dialectical center that feeds on the questions that interest both creators in particular and society in general and that allows different voices and interpretations to interact in public space, thus reaching a sense of belonging and participation for the many.
"New needs"
Social dynamism and new forms of production and management of knowledge translate into new realities and needs that must be met with determination and self-demand in order, on the one hand, to diversify and activate the various cultural sectors and, on the other, making this infrastructure into a public good.
We shall lay out the different agents involved along the different steps of the complex conception, implementation and management process, an example of integration and multidisciplinary work
Between 2003 and 2006, a socio-urban study on the Agra del Orzán, was carried out, implementing statistical tools, sociological criteria and urban analysis to understand the problems on multiple scales: the report Urbana-C (attached)
Secondly, a process of applications for funding was put in place for European Funds completed by municipal resources. The funds were distributed proportionally to the various fields of intervention: neighborhood infrastructures, mobility, training, gender, employment, consumption and integration of the migrant population.
The diagnoses developed in Urbana-C were applied in the various areas of intervention, among which the Ágora was a strategic part. According to the report "The Ágora is aimed at promoting synergies is a multi-purpose public space, and will be the reference of contemporaneity of an urban area formally still trapped in an urban model of the city of the last century"
The Ágora Centre, through architecture conceived as a 'space-infrastructure' and 'support for public synergies', was to introduce a new '20th century city model' and build a node of identity and relationship for the neighborhood
To this end, in 2007 the City Council organized an open, European-wide architecture competition to select a project. The Urbana-C report was part of the competition program and its recommendations on public space, the open and infrastructural condition of the architecture and the functional flexibility required.
Between 2007 and 2011, the architects and the Social Services of the City Council, on the one hand, and the librarians of the Á Coruña Library Network on the other, developed and built an architecture oriented to the uses and objectives established by the agents involved: urban node, social synergy, open spaces and local identity
As we have pointed out in previous sections, the input and collaboration of various agents were decisive in the conception of the architectural project:
First, the multidisciplinary team of sociologists, economists and anthropologists that elaborated and drafted the Urbana-C report. The scientific working method inherent to this type of research, the ability to quantify and dimension the problems with physical parameters, and the structuring of the analysis and diagnosis by areas of research and intervention (neighborhood infrastructures, mobility, training, gender, employment, consumption and integration of the migrant population), were fundamental to understanding the dimensions of the various problems and for imagining an architecture capable of tackling them.
Secondly, the work with the Social Services department of the City Council was necessary to organize the various areas of care, training and education in accordance with their protocols and needs.
Thirdly, the collaboration from the beginning with the librarians (project design) for the interior layout and the design of the furnishing made possible for the library to have a high level of use and effectiveness. With them we understood how the areas oriented to the different age groups of readers (children's, youth, etc.) are the backbone of its programmatic organization.
These collaborations allowed us to conceive and build an architecture oriented to the uses and objectives established for the Agora: urban node, social synergy, open spaces and local identity.
To those various agents associated with the City Council we added two more: professors from the University of A Coruña, who pointed out the historical value of the Agra del Orzán, where a network of Roman fountains and channels collected water for the city founded by them; the local ecologists who showed us the environmental value of the productive ecosystem of the rural environment and its landscape.
The diagnosis provided by the Urbana-C report detected, in 2007, the following problems in the neighborhood of the Agra del Orzán:
-High unemployment rate, up to 55%.
-Weak rates of economic activity as a consequence of the crisis of the local commerce (proximity shopping).
-High levels of poverty and exclusion (income below the city average).
-Need for economic and social transformations, but lack of means for the necessary training and change.
-High number of non-integrated migrants, up to 21%.
-Low levels of education. The rate of uneducated people was up to 9.6%
-High rates of domestic violence, the consequence of low levels of education and related to drug addictions
-High level of criminality, related to high rates of drug addiction
-Negative demographic trend: population loss reached 13.83%
-Environmental and urban degradation resulting from heavy traffic congestion.
All these factors, decisive for undertaking an integral regeneration strategy with the help of European Funds, determined the response of the Urbana-C report and, as part of it, the project and construction of the Center Ágora.
Therefore, the Ágora hosts and interrelates social and gender care with basic training (computers, administrative management, physical well-being, etc.) and with culture (theater and exhibitions) and learning (library and workshops).
As a consequence of the comprehensive implementation of the Urbana-C program and the social and cultural activities of the Ágora, all of the above indexes and rates have improved, according to the city's reports and statistics.
Fundamentally, a sense of neighborhood and identity (a positive belonging to the Agra del Orzán) and higher levels of social integration, due to personal, social and formative development across, have been developed.
Moreover, the Ágora attracts, through its multiple and various activities, population from the city center as well as from other areas, having constituted itself into a new centrality.
As reflected in the 6 images included with the application, the Ágora Center was not conceived as an autonomous architecture or a technical project, but as a physical support platform for the social life, integration and community identity.
As such a social and public infrastructure, designed for the public gathering and as a meeting space, the Ágora has achieved its purpose over time. If at the beginning it was a technical project and a system of empty spaces, over time both its interior and exterior have been filled with activities, some of them programmed but many others un-programmed, the result of the improvisation and the occupation by the neighbors.
The ‘support structure’ has been appropriated and occupied by a social network of citizens, local groups and civic associations. It happened due to the political direction of the center and its participative approach to the programming and use of the center, but also for the capacity of the architecture to absorb and house a multiple variety of activities, programs and events.
As portrayed by the images, the social network has taken over the Ágora through (1) the un-programmed use of the outdoor spaces, (2) naturalization through local landscape references, (3) becoming a meeting point, (4) it’s characterization as a cover public plaza, (5) the presence of music as an educational tool and, finally, (6) the programming of culture as a social condenser.
Thus, we can confirm that architecture has succeeded in becoming the right tool for achieving a greater social integration and the right tool for enhancing and supporting a civic network.
Through its open programming and its open architecture, the Ágora has become the most successful social and gathering space where neighbors and citizens of all generations come together.
Thus, when the open competition for the Ágora came out, we realize it was an opportunity for architecture to participate in the making of a social network and the reinforcement of a local identity, a sense of participation, belonging and recognition. Based on the participatory and insightful sociological study Urbana-C and the needs of the area and its inhabitants, badly hit during the 80’ by unemployment, drug abuse and social imbalances, we designed the Ágora as a place, a civic space for gathering where different generations could construct and share a social network of connivance.
Under the title ‘the magic mountain’ for the competition entry, the project proposed a fragmented form and an open architecture based on the programmatic principles of flexibility and adaptability and a green roof as the aesthetic image of integration in the rural and natural context of San Pedro de Visma and its yet agricultural economy.
Ágora was conceived as a place rather than as a building, a meeting point, a node capable of re-structuring around itself a weakened social fabric over time; an urban reference and a civic network for the neighbors.
Two complementary forces drive the formal organization of its architecture: one was aesthetic, searching for a balance between the new architecture and the existing agricultural landscape in which it integrates (miraculously survived side to side with the modern city); the second was programmatic, the requirement to allocate 10.000 square meters of several interrelated and yet independent and different functions (library, a 500 seat theater, workshops, exhibitions spaces, social services, classrooms, etc).
The goal was to achieve a balance between interior and exterior and between compactness and fragmentation, where porosity and transparency guarantee its accessibility and public character, and where density and compactness provide the efficiency, flexibility, and adaptability required in a public architecture.
There are 5 areas in which the strategies developed in the Ágora project can be replicated in other similar contexts:
1- working with the landscape. The new paradigm to work with is nature and its ecosystemic balances. Thus, architecture introduces nature not only as aesthetics but as a system, a more complex and unbalanced working system.
2- the construction of the public sphere through an architecture conceived as support and as infrastructure.
3- culture as dialogue. The empty and open spaces of the Ágora, some of them outdoors and others indoors, share the same objective: to offer space for the coexistence of communities and differences, and thus create a sense of identity and of belonging to a place, to the neighborhood.
4- the constant re-reading of the history of the place to reinforce identities and knowledge. The volume of Ágora was lifted from the ground to preserve and expose the history of its topography and the extraordinary system of fountains and canalizations build in the outskirts of the city in Roman times
5- hybridization and transdisciplinarity as working strategy. The input we received from the different agents involved in the design phase and embedded in the architecture through the design process is responsible for any success of the Ágora
These five strategies, contained in the architecture of the Ágora, can constitute a working model and a strategy for urban intervention.
Integration and identity are two fundamental and endemic problems of the Agra de Orzán, and both are characteristic of our times and of globalización.
The Agra of Orzan, built from the 60's onwards following the model of the modern city, lacks a character, an identity. Its architecture and urban model functioned as a technical system, one which gave the same answer in all and different places. It was the rule of technical and economic standardization that understood the city as a diagram and as an economy.
As a consequence, they forgot all the elements that define and characterize it, that make it different and what it is, and which the architecture of the Ágora aims to highlight:
-The city as an ecosystem, that is, as an integration in balance of the different agents and systems.
-The city as a landscape. The proximity of the economy and the rural landscape of Galicia is more powerful, more interesting than the urban environment that has been built. The rural landscape must also be our reference.
-The city as a local productive system. The city is not a machine, but a habitat. As such, it must generate its own productive system with a high degree of sustainability.
The city represented by the Ágora as architecture (infrastructure, node and support) proposes these three strategies in the face of the effects of globalization to generate identity, recognition and belonging: The city as an ecosystem, as an inspirational landscape and as a productive system.
