Jardin del Espacio Cultural El Tanque

El Tanque Garden is an ecological restoration project of a listed former industrial area that endows the Cabo Llanos neighborhood of Santa Cruz de Tenerife with its first green public space. Around a former oil refinery tank, reused as a cultural space since 1997 and listed industrial heritage since 2014, this banana garden recalls the agricultural landscape prior to industrialization, staging the city as a place of coexistence of different times, cultures and sensibilities that have shaped its identity. As the exuberant subtropical vegetation colonizes the industrial relic and the biodervisity is restored, the memory of the agricultural past is restored to build a sense of cultural continuity and belonging.

The layout of the new garden respects the original plot of the site and the original stone wall, while the base of the dismantled adjoining tank becomes now the perimeter of the semi circular plaza. The exterior of the Tank itself and its elements are rehabilitated and integrated into this design that combines heritage and nature.

More than 700 trees have been planted, including flamboyants, Roystonea Regia and Musa Paradisiaca palms, Monstera Deliciosa, Ficus Repen and shrubs, as well as areas with aromatic plants. A single concession to the nostalgia that oozes the industrial ruin was included, incorporating some cypresses that will wrap a corner of the iron structure of the El Tanque in green. It is a natural species, adapted to the Canary Islands, harmless to the rest of the species that accompany it.

The lighting and furniture are custom built with waste such as the discarded divers' oxygen bottles. Care for the environmental impact is also perceived in the orientation of the lamp so that it avoids light pollution,  the use of local flora that reduces the maintenance cost, as well as in the watering of the greenery with recycled water.