Name  City planning "El Samonta" 
Street   
District   
Place  Sant Joan Despí 
Country  Spain 
Built  1926 
Designed  1922 
Type  urban planning 
Condition   
Photos by  No Pictures 
Co-operating   
Reference  Josep M.Jujol 119
J. M. Jujol by ir R. Saariste and ir V. Ligtelijn  
Description  When Jujol was building Casa Negre, Pere Negre and Canalias asked him to come up with a design for a division of their lands behind the railway lines. The project was started officially in 1922, but proved to be hard going. Although it was wound up in 1926, it was in fact postponed indefinitely. Jujol was appointed municipal architect of Sant Joan Despí that same year. In that period he designed and realized a great many small dwellings for the local population. The urban plan was brought out again after the Spanish Civil War, and Jujol started on a revision, which he submitted to the authorities in 1949. The area was so isolated, on account of the railway line, that he decided to give El Samontŕ - as the new district was to be called - its own center, with a circular plaza, from which the streets would radiate in all directions. In order to improve connections with Sant Joan Despí, he extended three existing streets, including Torrente del Negre. They were intended to run below the railway. A fourth connection was to be made, by means of a bridge over the railway. It is not clear why, but the plan was never implemented, and everything was stored away in Sant Joan Despí's archives. Although it was based on separate plots, which were to be put up for sale, Jujol had designed several rows of terraced housing with a star-shaped floor plan for good light penetration. The entire housing district was arranged like a garden town, and Jujol had also thought out the topographical data and urban design details, including fountains and benches. The 1926 plan included a little church in the plaza. But the 1949 plan required a much larger church, the vertical cylinders of which were reminiscent of Torre de la Creu, topped by domes ŕ la Vistabella.