Description of project by Ramón Esteve
Ramón Esteve has been awarded with the Land Rover Born award in the category of Architecture for his work in the rehabilitation project of the Bombas Gens building in Valencia; an old factory of undoubted historical-social value and one of the few examples of industrial architecture of the 1930s that remains standing. The complex was created as a multipurpose space, an international benchmark, to develop a triple artistic, social and research activity.
"Our goal has always been to unify the intervention criteria throughout the whole, whether original buildings or new construction; and at the same time provide each of them with the uniqueness that each specific use needs", Ramón Esteve.
The art center is the central core of Bombas Gens, occupying the four original naves and a large part of the façade body. With a more lateral relationship are the volumes of restaurant and day center for children at risk of social exclusion, in addition to the headquarters of the Foundation that occupies the old village. Other independent spaces, such as the deposit of the 15th century cellar in the backyard or the anti-aircraft shelter of the Civil War, are articulated with patios or green areas that allow you to properly enjoy the scale of the whole and discover each of its corners.
With the intention of evoking the industrial atmosphere of the original complex, ceramic brick and galvanized steel prevail over the rest of the materials. In other more discreet areas, the original ceramics of the winery and the farmhouse have been reinterpreted, which-combined with the wood-gives the spaces greater nobility. In the interiors the light wooden covers are emulated again.
Through the volume of the facade you can access the Bombas Gens art center. On a restored industrial scale that occupies much of the floor of the hall, the transition to the patio takes place. In this patio, the trees emerge from the recovered rodeno cobblestone floor. Its irregular geometry allows intuitively the different spaces: the entrance to the art center in the front more directly, the restaurant on the right and the offices on the left with a more discreet presentation regarding the entrance.
The recognition by the Land Rover Born Awards coincides with the completion of the second phase of the project, during which architect Ramón Esteve has designed the backyard area; space that houses the garden and site-specific sculpture of Cristina Iglesias, composed of two ditches inspired by the Turia's bed reminiscent of roots and river bottoms. The walls that delimit the garden contain the space created for the Winery of the XV Century, covered by a brick latticework and inside which there is a glass walkway that crosses the space and allows to observe both the winery itself and the original ceramic of the farmhouse that was found during the excavation. For the design of the day center, also completed in this second phase, a materiality analogous to that of the ships was sought through the brick walls worked manually; so that the building is diluted at the bottom of the perspective, giving prominence to industrial buildings.
The International Land Rover Born Awards, created by Jean Christophe Chopin eight years ago, recognize the creative talent that manages to mix innovation and functionality in an aesthetic way through six disciplines represented: Architecture, Technology, Fashion, Home, Sports and Mobility. The Spanish winners will exhibit their designs in the framework of the Milan Design Week, specifically in the space that Land Rover Born will have from April 17 to 22 in the central neighborhood of Brera, along with the rest of the winners from each country - Germany, France, England, the United States and China. Later, on October 4, they will meet in London where the international winner will be chosen.
