Old Buildings, New Urban Life in Valencia

duvinca in #hive-178708 • 2 days ago

Hello archi lovers!

We return to the city again, and to those buildings that accompany us in each of our steps through different streets, crowded with life and signs of the past. Many have passed through here before and have left their legacy in the form of architecture.

Well we walk and we see, the architecture that gives life to cities remains, despite the passage of time, it is simply restored, adapted and renewed. Renew or die.
Here the buildings with a clean appearance acquire new functions for those who live and inhabit them, they are modernized with new plans and fit in with the rest of the new buildings that rival them, or that are simply reflected in their windows, creating a fascinating urban combination.

We are in the Spanish city of Valencia, in one of its most pleasant parts, a neighborhood where the old and the new coexist harmoniously and beautifully. Thus, the centre of this area is made up of iconic buildings, an old tobacco factory, which is still called "La Tabacalera" today, a complex of several buildings from another era that has come back to life after its restoration and renovation, being now an institutional building dependent on the local government of the city, where several public administrative offices are housed as well as others for citizen services.

We realize that the sober facades of large factories from other times are now supplemented by modern steel elements, doors and other details such as signs with the function they perform. Fences appear for public workers and small adjoining pavilions acquire new practical functions. What is architecture if not to provide a created space with utility?

And although their original function disappeared with the passage of time, these large buildings have managed to remain in the present, with dignity and practicality, becoming what they are today, and maintaining their importance in a different way, adapted to those who need them and those who use them. Survival over time and adaptation to the environment.

And we walk around its great perimeter on all sides, and with each turn of the corner we like it more. On the now sunnier side we find a fence, but not one of the current ones, like the ones we have seen on the other side, but of classic wrought iron, whose shapes play with the shadows of the leaves of the trees, creating a beautiful effect next to some windows with striking shapes that give character to the large brick facade. Normal architecture now becomes special and stunning. And to think that it was a "simple" tobacco factory...

And we could not ignore a spectacular element, the great old door that remains imposing and immense. Decorative iron filigrees encourage us to want to go inside, while we continue looking up to notice all those details of that monumental work that they once did, and that fortunately has been left to remain there.

We are overcome with curiosity, and since it is a public building at least we can enter the hall, although we don't have an appointment to do anything there. But we are surprised by the great size and height of the interior and those other giant white doors that also push us to want to enter towards the inner courtyard, which must be impressive. But people are busy, doing their things without observing that they are in a wonderful place, people are missing the beauty that surrounds us everyday.

Well, now we simply look across the street, and above more trees we can see other striking buildings in that part of the city, a tower and a pointed Gothic tower, and other emblematic buildings of the city that we will show later, looking towards the promenade area, Paseo de la Alameda and the old bed of the Turia River. Vestiges of an elegant era in the city that are maintained with magnificent beauty.

And finally, in the same place, also opposite if we follow the gaze, another classic and outstanding building blocks the intense rays of the sun, creating a bright aura that still gives those elegant facades more elegance and a golden charm. It is also another element of the past that is kept alive in this new urban life.

It was a wool factory, "Industria Lanera Valenciana" is still written on top, although curiously it has now been converted, a few years ago, into a luxury hotel, and the five stars are also given to it by that classic, clean and wonderful design, and even the street lamps from that other era where all the elements and details were taken care of to the maximum, are kept in the same tune. Beauty and balance were predominant notes and now with their new lives, they continue to show us the magic of architecture that endures.

As the sun shines, the windows become mirrors of a classic, harmonious and pleasant urban environment, where simply admiring these historic buildings becomes a sparkling pleasure.