Benidorm is a city that took a different approach to some of its neighboring cities along the Mediterranean sea, by tackling the growing desire for tourism along coastal areas in vertical design strategies. This has led to a city that is now highly populated by skyscrapers, many of which were designed for seasonal tourists, some of which have been converted to residential spaces for local people.
The relatively well constructed relationship between the waterfront and the seafront is possible as the spatial distance between the two is inherently minute, and the vehicle road passing along the waterfront is a narrow, non-major traffic. Such an advantage does not exist in the context of large cities like Barcelona, where major transportation traffic had to cut between the urban edge and the seafront. We see in Benidorm’s case, connecting the city and the sea does not require the support of any unconventional design element, since the narrow, low-speed road that runs between them does not form any practical barrier and the natural distance from building to beach is extremely small.
Spatial barriers are also extinct. The small spatial scale from the waterfront to the sea and the absence of hindrance between them results in a highly sensible degree of proximity in human perception, this naturally encourages visitors to actively occupy the space along these parts.
To put it simply, Benidorm has between its urban waterfront and the seafront a half ally with highly active sidewalks, while large cities such as Barcelona have a most unbreachable national highway put between the two.
After all, the biggest advantage in Benidorm’s case is its small scale.
Yet this advantage started to grow weak as the city continued to expand inland, as the placement of skyscrapers, albeit having a high theoretical density, started to become more and more sparse. Despite the fact that the distance between structures is not by any means significant, the rapidity of street activities is reduced as the concentration of street-level shops is reduced. As the scale of the streets increased, the general sensation of the street became oriented more towards vehicular traffic, as in a drastic contrast to Benidorm’s predominantly pedestrian old-town.
Apparently, tourist activities in Benidorm are affected by seasonal changes. By the time of our visit, it is clear that within the high-rise quarter, shops are mostly closed. It is evident that the residential high-rises are not hosting an active number of occupants at the moment. On the other hand, the old-town’s tourist district is constantly active, as waves of visitors flood the narrow mediaeval streets everyday. Simply speaking, the city is most predominantly occupied by tourists going after fast sightseeing and drinking at the company of decent scenery, while the long-term residents, other than those who service the tourist quarter and the elderly permanent residents, came to occupy their residential condos only at certain times of the year.
After all, most people do not have enough money nor time to enjoy the luxury condos serviced for vehicular access in a small Mediterranean city, where tourism is the basically the only industry; yet, a two-day escape from the large modern cities into the human scale of a retro-style European town that also offers great scenery is appreciated by many.
Benidorm: The Skyscraper City is a project of IAAC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed in the Master in Advanced Architecture 2020/21 by Students: Enlin Guo, James Alcock & Preetam Prabhakar ; Faculty: Mathilde Marengo, Willy Müller, and Student Assistants: Adriana Aguirre Such, Margherita Pasquali