Costa Iberica

The popular coastal regions of Spain and Portugal, almost entirely financed by tourism, have become increasingly indistinguishable from any other heavily-visited beach front locale, be it Cancun, Miami, Rio, or Hawaii. Exploiting the natural beauty and local identity of this area, the tourism industry has covered the coastline with a commercial facade, building up a kind of "elongated city". Yet, even though this region at times has a higher population density than New York or Hong Kong, it has no significant cultural institutions or industrial infrastructure. This study, directed by Winy Maas and Jacob van Rijs of the famed architectural team MVRDV, and done as a student's workshop at the School of Architecture at the University of Catalunya, evaluates the distressing present condition as well as the potential dynamics of this coastal environment. Also included are tongue-in-cheek renderings of future developments were the tourism machine to continue unimpeded on its present course.