ARN Arquitectos Turns an Elche Bus Stop into a Green-Roofed Climate Refuge

A bus interchange is, almost by definition, a non-place. It exists to move people through, not to hold them. In Elche, at the convergence of Alfredo Llopis, Doctor Caro, and Valero streets, that description used to be literal: a stretch of asphalt where cars dominated and pedestrians were an afterthought. ARN / Arquitectos, led by José Amorós Gonzálvez, Luis Rubiato, and Patricia Navarro, saw the brief for a new urban bus interchange not as a transit engineering problem but as an opportunity to build a piece of public landscape. The result, completed in 2025 for under one million euros, occupies 4,650 square meters and replaces vehicular inertia with shade, vegetation, and a reason to stay.

What makes the Dr. Caro interchange genuinely interesting is the refusal to separate infrastructure from ecology. Three low-maintenance concrete pergolas carry extensive green roofs that cool the air through evapotranspiration, while photocatalytic concrete pavers on the ground actively reduce airborne toxins. The station provides ticket offices, real-time information displays, bicycle parking, and covered waiting areas, yet none of these functions read as utilitarian additions. They are woven into a continuous pedestrian street that opens toward the banks of the Vinalopó River, turning the daily commute into something closer to a walk through a garden.

Three Pergolas, One Microclimate

Seen from above, the intervention reads as three organic canopies stepping down the site, their green roofs providing a generous planted surface visible from the surrounding apartment blocks. That aerial consideration is not incidental. Elche is a dense Mediterranean city, and for residents looking out from upper floors, the previous condition was a parking lot. Now it is a sequence of living surfaces threaded with circular openings that admit light and frame small planted islands below.

The tiered arrangement also creates a cascading relationship to the Vinalopó, reinforcing a visual and ecological continuity between the interchange and the riverbank. Each pergola is dimensioned to provide deep shade across its footprint during the hottest hours, the green roof substrate, made partly from recycled ceramic building materials, lightens the structural load while retaining moisture for passive cooling.

The Oculus and the Column

The most compelling detail of the pergolas is the circular oculus punched through each canopy. At dusk, looking up from the timber benches below, these openings become frames for sky and grasses, moments of unexpected intimacy in a piece of transit infrastructure. A single column rises through the center of each opening, its proportions slender enough to avoid any sense of heaviness. The concrete is left raw, its formwork grain legible, and the edges are finished with corten steel that will weather and darken over time.

Viewed from beneath, the arch profile of the canopy compresses and then releases, directing the eye outward toward the drought-tolerant grasses planted at the perimeter. It is a simple move, a hole in a roof, but it prevents the pergolas from reading as bunkers. Light, rain, and air pass through. The structure breathes.

Living Surfaces at Close Range

The planting palette is restrained and locally calibrated. Native grasses and low groundcover colonize the green roof substrates, requiring minimal irrigation and tolerating the intense Alicante summers. Close up, the circular openings reveal layered planting beds where ornamental species meet structural fill, a subtle demonstration that green infrastructure does not have to look like a meadow to perform like one.

At ground level, circular planted beds repeat the roof geometry, each ringed by timber tree grates that double as informal seating. The repetition of the circle, overhead and underfoot, gives the project a graphic coherence that photographs well from the air but, more importantly, orients pedestrians on the ground. You know where you are by the pattern of green discs around you.

Furniture as Landscape

The seating strategy deserves attention because it quietly does three jobs at once. Circular timber benches wrap around young trees, inviting groups to gather. Linear concrete benches with integrated planters separate pedestrian flow from waiting zones without bollards or railings. And smaller cylindrical stools scattered across the paving offer solitary perches for anyone who just wants to sit in the shade with a phone. Each type casts a distinct shadow pattern on the photocatalytic pavers, animating the ground plane throughout the day.

The material language is consistent but not monotone. Timber slats warm the concrete frame, their curved profiles following the radial geometry of the planting beds. Morning light rakes across the slatted surfaces and produces a graphic quality that suggests careful prototyping. There are no standard catalog benches here; every element was designed as part of the landscape system.

Plans and Drawings

The site plan reveals how tightly the interchange is sandwiched between existing building footprints, which makes the generosity of the open space all the more remarkable. The linear pedestrian plaza threads between party walls, its circular planting elements calibrated to maintain clear sightlines for approaching buses while maximizing canopy coverage for pedestrians. The section drawing is perhaps the most instructive: it shows angled columns supporting the planted roof at a pitch that sheds rainwater toward collection zones while keeping the underside dry for waiting passengers. The substrate depth is modest, confirming that the green roof is extensive rather than intensive, a maintenance-conscious decision for a municipal budget of under one million euros.

Why This Project Matters

The Dr. Caro interchange proves that climate-responsive public space does not require a landmark budget or a signature architect. At roughly 975,000 euros for over 4,000 square meters of intervention, the cost per square meter is modest by any European standard. The design intelligence lies not in formal spectacle but in the layering of passive cooling strategies, photocatalytic air purification, recycled substrates, and low-water planting, into a coherent civic space that people will actually use. It is infrastructure that doubles as a park, and a park that functions as infrastructure.

For cities across southern Europe confronting hotter summers and tighter budgets, this project offers a replicable model. You do not need to bury a highway or build an iconic museum to reclaim a street from cars. Sometimes three concrete pergolas, a few hundred square meters of green roof, and a set of well-designed benches are enough to turn a forgotten intersection into the most comfortable spot in the neighborhood.

Dr. Caro Urban Bus Interchange by ARN / Arquitectos (José Amorós Gonzálvez, Luis Rubiato, Patricia Navarro). Elx, Spain. 4,650 m². Completed 2025. Photography by Oleh Kardash.

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