Sand Becomes Part of Comillas’ Seafront Landscape
Located on Spain’s northern coast, Comillas is a small Cantabrian town with a rich architectural heritage, including El Capricho, one of Antoni Gaudí’s few buildings outside Catalonia. Against this historic backdrop, the transformation of the town’s seafront by Hector Navarro + arkhitekton addresses its changing relationship with the Cantabrian Sea. Instead of treating sand as something to be removed, the intervention incorporates it into the everyday functioning of the promenade. Carried inland by wind and beachgoers, sand settles within planted areas and permeable paving, becoming part of the public space.
Dune-Inspired Landscape Connects Town and Coast
Through this strategy, the design team extends into a new landscape inspired by the dune ecosystems of the Cantabrian coast. The promenade creates a transition between the built fabric of Comillas and the beach, using vegetation, permeable surfaces, and mineral materials to accommodate the changing conditions of the coastline. Limestone riprap reinforces the connection with the rocky coastal landscape, while permeable surfaces allow water and sand to remain part of the ground.
Benches and Open Space Reframe Comillas’ Waterfront
Individual benches are distributed along the promenade, providing places to stop and look toward the sea without creating a continuous line of conventional street furniture. By reducing the presence of cars and expanding pedestrian areas, the intervention gives greater space to everyday public use. Rather than introducing an autonomous object on the coastline, the project works with processes already present on the site: wind, sand, vegetation, water, and movement, to shape a new public landscape for Comillas.
