Huella (footprint) is a dry-cast bi-layer concrete paver. This deep, high-resistance product is available in several colours. Its design allows areas with different densities to be installed for pedestrians and occasional light vehicle traffic. When spaced apart, these pavers facilitate a graduated grid of pavement and grass. The Huella paving system was designed in 2010 by architect Pau Casaldàliga in collaboration with Escofet.
As the designer explains, "Because we only really understand the paths we have trodden, what better way to pave the ground than with the marks of our passage: footprints? Human footprints -a universal geometry- have the ability to bring cultures together in a common mosaic that is more than a simple coincidence of forms.
Moving beyond the mere act of decoration, the Huella project clads the soil with the trace of human transit, a metaphor and an anthropological message. Human dialectics have made us aware that all actions -simple, (footprint), and complex (urban)- leave their mark ... accepting this, all we have to do is design the best way to sink our feet in the sand. The use of our paths as a reminder of this, no matter where they lead us, is definitely an innovation".
These 10 centimetre thick pavers are laid on a 4 to 6 cm deep sand bed, spread on top of a previously compacted and levelled earth base.