Ecosistema Urbano, after winning a public competition, has developed the Landscape Design Project for the Louis Pasteur Boulevard and the main public spaces of the Teatinos University Campus in Málaga, Spain.
The project presents a new campus that is both open to the natural landscape and digitally connected, allowing users to interact, view real-time information, and adapt various public space elements to their needs, including the configuration of bioclimatic conditioning systems.
Text description provided by the authors. In line with the University of Málaga's strategies, the project develops an open and innovative campus concept, creating a natural environment designed to function as a space for study and socialization, improving environmental conditions, and incorporating technology to enable new interactions between the physical and digital realms.
The Louis Pasteur Boulevard project reclaims and transforms an underutilized area hemmed in by infrastructure, turning it into the university campus's main space. To achieve this, the design proposes the creation of new landscapes, a diverse and articulated program, localized improvements in climatic comfort, and seamless connectivity throughout the space.
The main goal of the proposed design is to facilitate daily university activities—such as teaching, studying, meeting, or reading—in the public space, while simultaneously creating a new green infrastructure for the city.
Four Ways to Rethink the Campus
Based on four complementary strategic pillars:
Digital Interactivity, Bioclimatic Comfort, and Energy Self-Sufficiency
A defining feature of the project is its commitment to technology focused on human-environment interaction.
It will be the first public space where users can interact via a custom-designed app. In tandem with the project's construction, the official UMA (University of Málaga) app will be expanded with open-source modules that provide access to an interactive and informative environment.
This opens up a whole new world of connections between the digital layer and the physical space. Beyond the process optimization and automation typical of "smart cities," the network of sensors and actuators in this project enables an unprecedented level of interactivity. In real time, users can control bioclimatic conditioning systems, change lighting modes, send audiovisual content to screens and sound systems, check weather conditions or scheduled events in each area of the park, share comments or photos linked to specific spaces, unlock lockers, or even check out books from an outdoor library.
Technology also plays a key role in the environmental design. To improve comfort, the outdoor spaces are equipped with bioclimatic conditioning systems such as water misting, evaporative cooling, and geothermal energy. These low-energy systems are powered by solar panels integrated into the structures. Combined with the passive design strategies incorporated into the project, these systems will enable year-round use of the spaces.
Open Academic Spaces Connected by a Natural Landscape
The project's first phase, covering an area of 7 hectares, is structured around three main systems: the "Hubs" or activity nodes, the large green areas, and the boulevard's natural corridor connecting them.
The project is designed to manage the water cycle more sustainably and efficiently, slowing runoff, creating a network of infiltration areas, and introducing low-water-use plant species.
The Boulevard is the green corridor linking signature elements like the technological Hubs, the Open Classrooms, and the Social Meeting Spaces, along with existing environmentally valuable spaces that serve as urban biodiversity reserves. The main path is framed by vegetated topographic landforms that define the trail and buffer it from traffic, improving its climatic and acoustic performance. These elements create unique landscapes that break up the linear perspective and openness of the suburban setting, generating more defined, sheltered environments where bioclimatic conditioning can be effectively implemented.
The Climatic and Digital Hub is the main space, located next to the metro stop and capable of hosting large-scale events. It is equipped with a high-tech canopy containing an interactive screen, a digital water curtain, bioclimatic conditioning systems, and energy generation systems to power the entire park.
The Open Classrooms are spaces shaped by the vegetation itself, sheltered and equipped with interactive technologies that facilitate events, teaching, and outreach activities. Their primary objective is to bring the university experience into the public space, offering environments designed to foster multidirectional learning.
The Open Library in the Olive Grove is a natural environment equipped at specific points with lightweight infrastructure and furniture, transforming the site into a space for learning, reading, information sharing, relaxation, and creative leisure.
The Zapatero Creek is renaturalized, preventing its channelization and disappearance from the suburban landscape. The introduction of new plantings, water harvesting systems, and infiltration areas mitigates soil erosion while boosting biodiversity.
By combining this strategic approach with site-specific interventions, the proposal for the new Teatinos Campus envisions a public space and landscape that support educational and recreational experiences. This design fosters and highlights interaction among the university's various disciplines, not only for students but for the wider public.
An intelligent natural space with a positive energy balance and bioclimatic comfort.
A public space where collaboration, creativity, and learning shape the urban scene.
Project Data
Client: University of Málaga
Location: Málaga, Spain
Date: 2017 - ongoing
Status: First Prize Competition - Executive Project Completed – Tendering Underway
Program:
Phase 1: Landscape design project for Louis Pasteur Boulevard and adjacent open spaces at the Teatinos University Campus of the University of Málaga. Area: 215,000 m²
Phase 2: Executive landscaping and urbanization project for the open spaces between Jiménez Fraud Street and Jenofonte Street, and the green area of the Meteorological Center. Area: 71,700 m²
Ecosistema Urbano - Málaga Project Team
Project Directors: Belinda Tato, Jose Luis Vallejo
Coordination: Marco Rizzetto
Design Team: Luisa Zancada, Jorge Toledo, Antonella Marlene Milano, Alice Clementi, Maria Vittoria Tesei, Carlos Moles, Elena Castillo, Jorge Sedano, Alberto García, Julia Casado, Matías Rico, Estefanía Arrieta, Marta Muñoz, Pablo Santacana, Silvio Pennesi, Jorge Sanchez, Carlos León
Collaborators: Palma Piedrahita, Monia Buongiorno, Simona de Carlo, Valentina Bachetti
Consulting: Engineering: TECTUM INGENIERÍA (Constantino Hurtado) AST INGENIERÍA (Roberto Suárez); Landscaping: LJESCHKE PAISAJISMO (Laura Jeschke) HERBANOVA (J. Ramón Gómez Fernández)
This article was written by Fabian Dejtiar. The translation is powered by AI.
