José Antonio Corrales. Pueblos de Colonización. La construcción de la sombra

José Antonio Corrales planned four Colonization Villages between January 1954 and June 1956: Guadalimar, Vegas del Caudillo, Villafranco del Guadiana and Llanos del Sotillo. Corrales progressively built the shade in his colonization villages, protecting the outdoor spaces from the sun converting them into a place of relationship and gathering for its inhabitants. Llanos del Sotillo culminates a process, where his aim is masterfully achieved. Shade pursued in the orientation and urban layout, in the section of its streets, public galleries or under community buildings. The shade is also sought in the deepest thresholds of homes, becoming places where the boundaries between outside and inside fade and blur the division between public and private space, into greater wealth and complexity, enhancing community life under its shade. Years later in Elviña, Corrales presented us with community spaces, a sort of “streets in space” through which the dwellings could be accessed, as a partial evolution of his villages adapted to the geographical context, in this case searching for the sun and shelter from the rain. The sun and its shade mark and reveal community life in these works.