We intend to transform the wounds of the Castle Forest into a future, so that this woodland can once again become a safe haven where nature and our memories flourish.
For many of us, the Castle Forest is the first stage of a life gaining courage: hurried steps at the end of the afternoon, secrets whispered in the shadows, the first kiss among ancient trees and walls that seem to hold promises. It is the place where adolescence became memory—and where we want other generations to find the same refuge.
Storm Kristin disrupted this continuity. It tore down pergolas, felled and weakened trees, interrupted trails, damaged routes, and erased landmarks. The urgency is twofold: to restore safety to those who walk and to care for the ecosystem that sustains the beauty of this place. This proposal suggests an intervention that repairs, renews, and retells the forest using the very wood that the wind caused to fall.
We will begin by repairing the pergolas and carefully cutting/removing trees at risk, always with technical supervision and respect for the natural cycle of the forest. Along the staircase, the History of Palomar will come to life, a discreet narrative that invites you to climb slowly, step by step, connecting people and place. To make the evening safe and welcoming, we will install low-impact ground lighting that provides guidance without disturbing the wildlife.
Next, we will restore the Botanical Route, extend the flora trail, and update its interpretation: identifying new species, surveying fauna, and providing informative materials on repurposed wooden plaques, where the very material of the forest explains what lives there. The signage will be simple, clear, and beautiful, so that each visitor—from schools to hikers, from curious onlookers to those feeling nostalgic—finds their own path of understanding and belonging.
The new treasures of the forest are born from what has fallen. The Kristin Garden will be a living route that reveals what the fallen trees have become: along the itinerary, statues and sculptures of animals and species from the Castle Forest itself will appear, carved from fallen trunks; at selected points, monumental trunks of dead trees standing will be worked in situ , as testimonies to the life cycle of the forest and the capacity to transform loss into art and learning. For younger visitors, an app or flyer will transform the visit into a nature treasure hunt; a game of discovery that brings science and imagination closer together.
To welcome families, we will integrate a leisure area with a slide designed in a natural style, where wood, shade, and terrain shape the play. Throughout the complex, the experience will be safe, inclusive, and sensory, with clear paths and rest areas that invite people to linger.
Thus, the Castle Forest will once again become a vibrant and safe place, where adolescent memories can be inherited, not just remembered. We repaired what was damaged, reinforced biodiversity, restored legibility to the trails, and created a sculpture route that transforms fallen tree trunks into guardians of this forest's knowledge. With your support, the storm ceases to be merely an episode of loss and becomes a chapter of rebirth—and the forest will once again whisper stories, old and new, to those who allow themselves to be guided by it.
Exemplos de escultura e espaços de lazer que pretendemos desenvolver.
