Recently completed to plans by Bilbao-based Bear Architects, a new public park opens in Mallabia — a small Spanish municipality located in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Called Zubitegi Park, the project occupies a hardscape on a former water treatment plant in Mallabia, with a dramatic change in height and little connection to the nearby street.

Two ramped pedestrian paths and a spiral staircase provide access along both edges of the park, overcoming the difference in elevation from the nearby road and creating a new path from the location to the nearby town of Eruma.

Framed by a steel grid, these elevated walkways and a circular terrace at the eastern end of the site overlook a paved geometric area in the center, where seating areas and play equipment can be easily adapted to new uses in the future. Facing south, the raised areas serve as a viewpoint of the forest surrounding Zubitegi Park, where an additional circular terrace is accessible by a winding path.

The park was designed to be flexible and cater to a wide range of recreational and sports activities. The architects themselves said in this regard that they were inspired by Cedric Price’s work, particularly the proposal for the Fun Palace, designed as a “laboratory of fun.”

“The goal, related to Cedric Price’s theories, is to create a building that is open in terms of both time and use; an open building without interiors that could have a padel court, playground or gymnasium now, but in the future could contain a skatepark or bike park,” the firm explained. “It is a living infrastructure for the area, its residents and its visitors.”