• The proposal should adopt an iconic language that allows the traffic circle to be easily recognized by everyone, evoking the semiology that the site contains.
• The regulated and careful use of plant material in the face of the rising cost of water for future irrigation. Parallel to the present condition.
• The need for durable, easy-to-maintain solutions, since these spaces will be preserved using the Quarteira Parish Council's own resources. This justifies the use of inert materials and low-maintenance species, to the detriment of more intensive maintenance solutions (e.g. lawns).
• Compliance with all applicable legislation for the location in question, particularly with regard to pedestrian accessibility or the signposting of traffic lanes (particularly at the traffic circle). The aim is to avoid conflicts with public bodies with responsibility for the location in question at later stages of the project and/or construction work.
• Evaluation of the existing street lighting, with a careful intervention to provide light coverage in keeping with the centrality in question.

Assuming this set of assumptions, and recognizing the inseparable link between Quarteira and the sea (a link that is clearly reflected in the visual image of the Quarteira Parish Council), it became clear to ALA that there was a need to incorporate this representation into the main entry point to the city.

At the traffic circle, the space that will have the greatest visual impact on passers-by, the formalization of the traffic circle has been completely overhauled, abandoning the current occupation with a lawn and four palm trees for a composition that highlights the wave and the sea as an identifying element of Quarteira. This reference is materialized through a set of cor-ten steel elements, whose profiles resemble waves and whose implementation promotes a dynamic reading of the surroundings of this road access junction. These elements are complemented by five flowerbeds with understory species that will ensure the chromatic diversity that this space so desperately needs.

The cor-ten steel “waves” that will be the only element built here. They will be built using four metal profiles of varying heights. These elements will be supported by an internal structure which will ensure their integrity and will be the means by which they will be fixed to the ground (using concrete masses).

In terms of vegetation, one of the existing palm trees was transplanted and the other three preserved. This highlights the pre-existing axis, visually balancing the composition of the whole. As for the sub-arboreal extract, a different species is proposed for each of the five proposed beds, with priority given to those that allow the formation of dense and visually balanced clumps.