The Library Garden
Built for the 12th edition of Concéntrico in Logroño, The Library Garden transformed a paved square in the town centre, beside the Biblioteca Rafael Azcona, into a living space for cultivation, seed swapping, and community gathering. The installation featured drought-tolerant planting arranged around a timber shed, complete with a shared table and benches.
The project had a lasting, physical impact on the square in the Madre de Dios neighbourhood. Developed together with Concéntrico as part of a broader depaving and climate adaptation strategy, the team lifted up the original paving to restore permeable ground and make room for proper planting beds and new trees. By actively breaking through concrete, the project created a climate oasis in the heart of the city to improve thermal comfort, make the space more liveable, and bring nature and wildlife back into the urban landscape.
The design grew out of a public workshop on Calle San Roque called Design Your Own Community Garden in 2025. Local residents came together to imagine green spaces that could bring more wildlife, native plants, and quiet pockets of nature back into the town. Their collective ideas formed a blueprint for a greener Logroño.
Those initial sketches left a direct mark on the final structure. Motifs of birds, bees, fish, and local plants drawn by participants were carved into the wooden facade, turning community stories into a permanent part of the build.
Positioned right beside the public library, the garden picked up on the institution's ethos of sharing. A seed library on site invited passersby to take seeds home to plant in their own gardens, spreading the project across the town. It offers a practical look at how architecture can encourage simple acts of care, mutual learning, and connection within everyday city life.
The project was presented as part of Concéntrico's Urban Ecologies series, exploring new approaches to landscape and design in contemporary cities.
Special thanks to the British Council Spain for their support, and to the Concéntrico team for making the project possible.
Photography by Sara Cuerdo.
Photography by Sara Cuerdo.
Photography by Sara Cuerdo.
During the festival, The Library Garden was activated through a series of planting workshops held in collaboration with the Biblioteca Rafael Azcona. Local residents gathered to plant, tend, and exchange seeds, connecting the garden to urban biodiversity, environmental care, and everyday social life. The sessions continued the participatory spirit of the project, with neighbours taking an active role in shaping and caring for the space throughout the week.
Ceramic tiles made and designed by Sahra Hersi for The Library Garden. The sequence depicts a seed being planted, growing, and flourishing, a quiet symbolism of spreading ideas and learning as growth, mirrored in the library beside it. The tiles draw on the Spanish tradition of tiles as storytellers, another way of carrying a narrative into public space. Concéntrico 2026, Biblioteca Rafael Azcona, Logroño.
Design Your Own Community Garden Workshop, Concéntrico 2025
Held on Calle San Roque during the 2025 festival and supported by the British Council, Design Your Own Community Garden invited members of the public to imagine and draw their own community gardens around a large communal table. Participants of all ages and backgrounds were welcomed in to think about how gardens might support people and urban wildlife together, considering biodiversity, edible plants, and the small pockets of nature that can take root in a city.
The workshop was informal and open. Drawing tools were freely available, prompts were simple, and each person was invited to interpret the brief in their own way. At the close of the session, the individual designs came together to form a collective landscape, a shared vision for a greener, more connected Logroño.