Hasta La Ideas

Pastel gradients spread up the walls of this languages school in Valencia by local design studio Masquespacio (+ slideshow).

Masquespacio completed the interior design and brand identity at the 2Day Languages school for learning Spanish, inside a neoclassical building.

“We wanted to limit our intervention to a minimum,” said the studio’s creative director Ana Milena Hernández Palacios, “without forgetting the importance of equalising the mix between modern decoration and the beauty of the neoclassical architecture of the building.”

Decorative cornices and mouldings around doors, windows and columns were kept alongside new pine wood flooring and furniture.

Each classroom is colour coded with pastel blue, yellow or pink on the walls, metal chair legs and pendant light cages.

“Every classroom contains a different colour that is fading as if presenting the progress in language learning,” the designer said.

Wooden box lights overlap at right angles above study tables and are positioned in cross shapes over the reception desk.

There’s also a communal lounge for students to relax in, decorated sparingly with a combination of shades used elsewhere, plus a staff room.

Visitors can follow the colourful signs around the buildings to find the right room.

Small plant boxes have been attached to the walls, while other foliage grows in pots that dangle from the ceiling.

Thin samba wood slats form undulating ribbons that hide lights along the corridor ceilings.

The branding uses the same colour scheme and patterns as the interior, paired with bold fonts.

Other interiors of educational facilities we’ve posted include a public school in Amstelveen that uses poetry as a design device and the economics department at the ROC professional training school in Apeldoorn, both in the Netherlands.

Photographs are by David Rodríguez from Cualiti.

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Read on for Masquespacio’s project description:

Masquespacio present their last project done in a central area from Valencia, Spain. The studio specialised in interior design and communication created in this case the interior and the identity of 2Day Languages, a new Spanish school in Valencia.

This project in first case is based on the identity of 2Day Languages represented by a flag that is fused with a text bubble including the three fundamental characteristics of language learning: the levels, the goal and the conversation.

On the other hand it integrates the historic values from the city of Valencia that mixes modern and old architecture. A fusion symbolised in this new Spanish school through its neoclassical architecture and the intervention from Masquespacio’s designers. The space is developed on an area of 183 m2 that contains three classrooms, a staff room and a lounge. Each of the classrooms and common rooms are a defragmentation from the brand identity of 2Day Languages and also incorporate parts of the Spanish language and the architecture of Valencia.

In first place it can be seen that the classrooms are containing the three brand colours, which in turn are a representation of the three levels A, B and C established by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, here seen as the colours blue, yellow and pink. Every classroom contains a different colour that is fading as if presenting the progress in language learning. On the other hand the sculptural lamps are another defragmentation from the graphical elements.

Ana Milena Hernández Palacios, creative director of Masquespacio comments: “As in the classrooms the students and their teachers are the protagonists, we wanted to limit our intervention to a minimum, without forgetting the freshness and ‘good feeling’ that needed to breathe each space, as well as the importance to equalise the mix between modern decoration and the beauty of the neoclassical architecture of the building. We opted for warm materials like pine to generate pleasurable sensations with functional features to make easier the school operations. Two tables instead of one in each classroom were chosen to be separated and stacked during activities. Also the chairs were chosen to offer maximum comfort to the students and with stack options for better circulation during activities.”

Getting out of the classrooms in the common areas, where the students of the different levels meet each other, levels and colours are mixed up together. This happens in the reception, but also in the hall through little shreds from the gradient colours added to the bottom part of the wooden ceiling. Last but not least the lounge room follows the same unity of colours, but this time merged into the decorative elements subtracted from the brand identity. Undoubtedly this part of the project is the one where the decoration has a more prominent role, faithful to the design established in other parts of the school. Headliner here is the representation of the communication elements, relevant words of the Spanish language and some icons from the architecture of Valencia, using a technique of knitting with wool and nails.

Masquespacio in this project wanted to remain true to its philosophy traduced into creativity, identity and democratic design always under the concept of designing a space to live and enjoy with a freshness that makes the users feel comfortable while being overwhelmed by emotions generated by the space itself.

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by Masquespacio appeared first on Dezeen.

A disused hospital building in Valencia explodes and shifts into new configurations in this series of manipulated photographs by Spanish studio espai MGR (+ slideshow + movie).

Led by espai MGR, the architects manipulated photographs of the former Hospital Universitario La Fe to draw attention to the need for “urban recycling” to revive empty buildings.

“Nothing is unrelated in a city. To empty a building and leave a black spot in the city is something that somehow also affects the closest environment,” architects Manuel López and Bernat Ivars told Dezeen.

“We wanted to show a building that evolves parallel to a society more and more aware of the importance of urban recycling,” they added. “A building able to be restructured and to change in order to house new functions without needing to be demolished and rebuilt.”

An accompanying website tells the story of the hospital through a cryptic fable about an octopus and a broken pitcher, which references a fairytale about a proud milkmaid whose pail of milk falls from her head.

The broken pitcher, or pail, suggests an object that has been badly managed and can no longer function properly, the architects explain.

The images accompanying the text are not directly connected to each other, but are organised like a soundtrack accompanying a scene in a film. “For instance, in the moment the pitcher is broken, the building breaks with it, depicting an interior full of possibilities,” they said.

Creative Dismantling was led by espai MGR with the assistance of Aitor Varea as a product of Proyectos con Final Feliz, a work and research cooperative based in Valencia.

Last year we reported on another photo-manipulation project by espai MGR, which imagined impossible Lego structures filling vacant plots in Valencia.

We recently reported on another set of surreal photographs in which Parisian houses appear to be floating in the sky like kites.

See all our stories about manipulated photography »
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Here’s some more information from the architects:

Creative Dismantling_short story about strange cities_ep1

Authors: Bernat Ivars, Manuel López
Collaborators: Fran Azorin, Lola Bataller, Isabel González, Eva Raga, Aitor Varea

Abstract

When an institutional bulding is disused, its stillness infects life around it. Creative Dismantling tries to reverse this situation by means of injecting movement both visually and reflexively. The case study is the former Hospital La Fe, currently a large container without use in Valencia, Spain.

This building served as a public hospital since its opening in 1968 until its closure in February of 2011. Once all its services have been transferred to a new location, its around 150,000 sq m of floor area are ready to be reinvented in order to keep on energising its unbreakable bond with the neighborhood of Campanar.

By means of a different language, we pursue to make visible a problem and turn it into an opportunity: the establishment of the former Hospital La Fe as a symbol of urban recycling.

Text

The creative dismantling seeks to reconstruct the different links of urban reality. The goal is to get the city to maintain ecosystem equilibrium relationships among agencies so that the dynamics of each complement the other. This requires a reinterpretation of the usual meaning of the elements that turn problems into opportunities. A rearticulation to heal wounds urban partially through the influence of reflex areas.

We talked about a long-term process where the fundamental piece of change is not the result but the movement itself. The real destruction of a building is not its disappearance but its stillness: stillness that extends to everything that surrounds it. Some buildings should disappear. Others gradually disappear. In one case or another, they must always give way to a new life. The task of the architect is also to decide the optimal way to deconstruction. Progress sometimes appears with removing the first stone.

A brand new symbology

Creative dismantling is not unless it contributes to activate a fair and complex social economy. As a sign of a new attitude, creative dismantling has a symbolic character that feeds on what makes us individuals and allows us to live everyday. Halfway between utopia and an unavoidable step whose border a change of attitude, creative dismantling does not focus on the material but also on values, dismantling institutions stacked in a wrong time. How can something die with dignity and become more important during the process of death than in life? We only have to redefine the direction taken so far and adopt a more coherent logic. In the end, asserting only common sense.

Former Hospital Universitario La Fe was opened in 1968 to meet the needs of the health area of Valencia. This service was guaranteed by the involvement of almost 7,000 employees. For 42 years it served daily to over 600 patients. During its long period of activity it acted as an economic and social promoter of a neighborhood that became identified with his existence. his intense activity contributed to the creation of housing and services for the broad set of employees, patients and families.

In 2001, the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat Valenciana announced the decision to build a new La Fe hospital to replace the current centre. The transfer of all its services to the new location took place between November 2010 and February 2011, since when the new site has assumed the continuity of all inherited health responsibilities.

Today, the old centre is one of the most important urban opportunities in the city. About 150,000 m2 of floor area remain ready to be reinvented and continue its task of energising an unbreakable bond with the neighbourhood of Campanar.

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by espai MGR appeared first on Dezeen.

Almost everything that goes on inside this house in Valencia by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos is on show to visitors though a transparent glass facade (+ slideshow).

The L-shaped house is entitled Casa del Atrio, or Atrium House, in reference to the glazed elevation and skylight that bring light into the eastern wing.

A large living/dining room occupies this space and offers residents a view out over the landscape of the Sierra Calderona.

A basement floor is buried just beneath, but emerges on the southern facade to reveal a bedroom, study and gym that open out to a sunken terrace.

Two more bedrooms are located in the northern wing of the ground floor and are screened behind partitions for privacy.

We also recently featured another house by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos: a wedge-shaped building that thrusts out from a rock face.

See more stories about houses in Spain »

Photography is by Fernando Alda.

Here’s a project description from Fran Silvestre Arquitectos:

Casa Del Atrio / Atrium House

Godella, Valencia

A house in a urban area parts of the desire to maximize the feeling of spaciousness.

Two strategies are used. The principal is to release the largest possible in the middle of the site allowing you to enjoy a private space with a height and volume incalculable. It enhances the perimeter of contact with the outside housing, land and housing understood as a continuum. On the other hand uses the existing slope to the ravine next to illuminate the basement, which enables you to host the program.

The building is developed along the southern and western boundaries of the parcel, which together with the elements of urbanization of the site, form a kind of atrium, whose diagonal flight to a distant vision of the Sierra Calderona.

Access is accompanied by the south facade to find the point of intersection. At this point of view inside the distributor is located next to the stairs and the kitchen form the backbone of the operation of housing.

The southern zone where the rooms are available during the day, dematerialized their presence due to the overhead light.

In the west the rooms fall to a portion of parcel with a more domestic scale, while the master bedroom overlooking the lift light reflected on water.

In the dark basement and garage are in the cellar. All other uses of the program look into the ravine through which light up.

Architecture: Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

Project Team:

Fran Silvestre – Principal In Charge

María José Sáez – Principal In Charge

Jose V. Miguel – Collaborator Architect

Ángel Ruíz – Collaborator Architect

Structural Engineer: David Gallardo / Upv

Building Engineer: Carlos García

Interior Design: Alfaro Hofmann

Client: Naves Y Fábricas, S.L. | Guillermo Caballero De Luján

Contractor: Coarco

Location: Urbanización Santa Bárbara, Godella, Valencia

Site Area: 1150,00 sq m

Built Area: 782,85 sq m

Atrium Area: 340,00 sq m

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Basement floor plan – click above for larger image

Cross section 1 – click above for larger image.

Long section 1 – click above for larger image

Cross section 2 – click above for larger image

Long section 2 – click above for larger image

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Fran Silvestre Arquitectos appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Wire: Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has been accused of “bleeding Valencia dry” over alleged fees of €100 million for the showpiece City of the Arts and Science cultural centre in the city – The Guardian

Leftwing Spanish political party Esquerra Unida claims the architect had a deal with the conservative-led regional government to earn a percentage of construction costs for the complex, which have spiralled to a rumoured €1.1 billion.

Last month, Guardian journalist Giles Tremlett reported that Spanish ministers were blaming profligate regional administrations for Spain’s budget deficit, with showpiece architectural projects singled out for criticism.

Tremlett, the paper’s Madrid correspondent, seems to have a bee in his bonnet about extravagant Spanish architecture: in October he reported on the closure of the newly opened Niemeyer Centre in Avilés, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, and listed Peter Eisenman’s City of Culture in Santiago de Compostela among a string of other white elephants; while back in 2009 he reported on how a slew of grandiose schemes – including projects by Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel and Alejandro Zaera Polo – were hitting the buffers due to the credit crunch and Spain’s looming economic woes.

Santiago Calatrava projects featured on Dezeen include the Liège-Guillemins station in Belgium and a bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice.

Show-stealing furniture upcycled from sail cloth

Impressive new Spanish designer Dvelas held court last week during Valencia Disseny Week as they promoted nautical furniture upcycled from vintage sail cloth at the show for young designer’s called Nude. The company’s creations come with a tag explaining the material’s source, from the manufacturer to the boat from which it was salvaged. Since it’s made from real sailing material, the furniture is guaranteed to stand up to outdoor wear and is a perfect way to spruce up your beachside home.

Despite basing their company in landlocked Pamplona, the brand takes inspiration from sailing culture and a love of sun and relaxation. Their pieces reflect a minimalist aesthetic and an eye for functionality. The Genois chair is a bean bag design with sail cloth that tightens to provide support while remaining somewhat free-form. Meanwhile, the company’s clean Vaurien design is a sunshade lounger made for beach use.

In addition to furniture, Dvelas also makes hangers from hemp rope and brass carabiners. The original suspended hanger has a pulley-based sister design which allows for raising and lowering of the hooks. While some might sit back after such a winning collection, Dvelas indicated (and we agree) that their best work was yet to come when they unveiled the Trimmer chair. Currently just a prototype, the effortlessly relaxed three-legged reading chair takes inspiration from the best of modern chair design.

As if Dvelas’s one-of-a-kind style wasn’t custom enough, the company allows you to send in your own sail to be made into one of their products. That way, while you may retire your old sail cloth, you need not abandon it entirely. Products are available online through the Dvelas web store.