Youth Casal Novelda. CrystalZoo.

Spanish study CrystalZoo have renovated this old school in Novelda, Spain to create a youth center in the area and develop the area.


Novelda is a municipality of Valencia (Spain) located within the province of Alicante. Known for its grape production and trade in spices and marble, the town has 27,135 inhabitants (INE 2009).



Call Youth Casal Novelda, the top of the building was wrapped in a polycarbonate skin, causing it to exceed the bottom.



The windows are slightly recessed into the front and stand out in bright colors.


The materiality and lighting are the way in which this proposal establishes new links and relationships between the building and public space.
Part of the proposed project is a renovation of an old school building in your yard to allow new public uses


It offers a comprehensive and sophisticated equipment in this building and its plaza, through the installation of a new structure that surrounds the old school, with its own program and support for new activities.





The architects have created a new plaza at the entrance of the building, with little mounds of grass and a zig-zag on the pavement that creeps up on the center wall.


This courtyard is a place that complements and enables the use of this new building.


This structure provides illumination, energy and information systems, which define the specific settings for different situations that can happen.
Is a work on the reuse of old buildings and their adaptation to current needs.


The Youth Casal reinvents and establishes a dialogue between each stage of its evolution.





The square is a center of social activity in Novelda. This square is thus a place of expansion and openness published in the municipality.


This system consists of connecting roads that also define the soft parts that can adapt and link up with what's going on inside the building.


Life is opened, in this case, the creation of a new container capable of equipping the building and the plaza with new technologies and services.

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White Bay, Bussines and Comercial District in Alicante. Duran Blazquez Architects. Modena Architecture.

Modena Architecture is a Spanish firm led by  Duran Blazquez architects. This firm develops a cutting-edge design project in southern Spain.

Alicante is a city of Valencia (Spain), capital of the region of the lands of Alicante and of the eponymous province, situated on the Mediterranean coast, is the second largest city of Valencia in Spain and eleventh. Its population is 334,757 inhabitants (INE 2009) and forms a conurbation of 452,462 inhabitants in the neighboring towns of San Vicente del Raspeig, San Juan de Alicante, Muchamiel and Campello. Belongs to the metropolitan area of Alicante-Elche, with 757,443 inhabitants. It is a city to tourism and services.

This city due to their resort is an enclave of culture, vacation spot for citizens of other countries and especially for European citizens of Nordic countries, Russia, England and Germany.

Despite the crisis engulfing the country, are developing draft urban projects that still need several years of development due to administrative processes.

Elements of urban development:

The project develops part of a residential, business and shopping in the city of Alicante.
Although the percentage of per capita m2 of commercial areas in the city, as in other south of the peninsula is high, the developer committed to creating a shopping area with an avant-garde looking reference an international rather than local or regional.

The project works over the concept of urban development of middle income residential high-buildable blocks wide, linked to the development of a commercial area in the city reference.

The location of the sector in an area of urban expansion and commercial dynamism and tourism in the area are the keys to bet promoter.

The first floor will house shops and restaurants connected to an adjacent mall, the buildings near the main square is filled with apartments.

The program is a mix of boutique shops, Business Centers, cafes and homes.

The street and the park will be connected through a foreign city tour closely tied to sources and other recreational spaces, so that external routes themselves generate a meeting space in an area very close to the Mediterranean Sea.

Baja 4 plants are connected to a shopping mall. The buildings closest to the area reserved for apartments.

The square and the outdoor complex offers spectacular views of the old town and castle.

Outlying areas of this public space is shaped like outdoor cafe.

As fashionable as well as buildings change through the season: autumn winter appearance is due to the use of cooler colors. In the spring colors are modified in the facades and peripheral light through the exterior is green in some areas.

The urban development marks a beginning for future development of the city of Alicante in the coming years. Thus, the Central Business District is a model for the transformation process must take place in the cities of southern Spain and his race for a distinct identity in the changing economic climate. Like many other cities economically applicants in Spain, Alicante faces the challenge of establishing an urban identity that unites local traditions with the most innovative ideas for future business.

Alicante on the other hand has the Altet airport (also known as Alicante airport despite being located in the neighboring city of Elche), which is today the most profitable airport in Spain by the massive influx of tourists throughout the year .

Moreover, the seaport city, is a reference port of both goods and tourist traffic through the cruise ships.

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