Archinect - News

Lizard tails are effective at producing building collapse prevention strategies, Spanish scientists find

2024-05-20T19:30:00-04:00

A group of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia say they have discovered a means for protecting buildings from structural collapse. In a new set of building science experiments conducted in June 2023, they carefully studied animal neurobiology.

El País tells us: “The team of scientists and engineers has devised a hierarchy-based collapse isolation system, the key to which lies in the implementation of structural fuses, which allow the building to be segmented in the event of a failure. According to Adam, this design philosophy is similar to fuse-based protection of electrical networks. His technique has been validated by a test on a real building — 15 by 12 meters in plan, with two 2.6-meter-high floors — using prefabricated reinforced concrete. It is the first solution of its kind to be tested and verified at full scale.”

The Endure project recently made the cover of the journal Nature. Engineering professor Antoni Cladera (who did not participate in the study) t...

A fatal apartment building fire in Valencia, Spain, raises questions on the safety of building materials

2024-02-27T13:11:00-05:00

Valencia is reeling from a fatal fire at an apartment complex in the Spanish city. The incident began on the night of Thursday, February 22nd, and though the cause has not been definitively established, early reporting has suggested that the building’s cladding may have played a part in the disaster.

Ten people have been confirmed to have been killed in the fire, whose identities match the list of ten people deemed missing by authorities. In an isolated moment of relief, four people who had been included on the preceding list of 14 missing people have been located alive.

As per Spanish outlet El Pais, the vice-president of the Valencia College of Industrial and Technical Engineers, Esther Puchades, suggested that the building’s cladding included polyurethane and when “heated it is like plastic and it ignites.” In response, IPUR, Spain’s polyurethane manufacturers’ association, issued a statement saying there was no evidence that polyurethane was used in the subject building.

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A rugged rehab of an architect’s personal home in Valencia

2020-04-07T18:59:00-04:00

Located in the neighborhood of Ayora in Valencia, Spain, this home was rehabilitated for Jose Costa, the architect who also designed the project. As his own home, the endeavor gave Costa a canvas to explore different creative ideas within the space.

Costa removed all interior coverings, leaving partitions, ceilings, and floors bare, exposing the wooden structure hidden beneath. Built within an older existing structure, the previous window openings allow natural light to wash through the space while preserving the original elevation of the structure.

The double height living-dining room and kitchen space sit adjacent an upper-level loft. Just beneath the loft is the main room, bathroom, and winter room. The upper-level also contains a multipurpose studio space.

The original roof on the structure was raised to provide natural light and ventilation into the home, reaching both the mezzanine and living room. Brick, concrete, steel, and wood are the core materials presented throughout th...

Feast your eyes on Pink Intruder's colorful, food-inspired mural in Valencia, Spain

2017-10-26T16:10:00-04:00

David Moreno and Miguel Arraiz of urban intervention art group Pink Intruder created a fruitful splash of color with the MUPFPP Mural in their hometown Valencia in Spain. Inspired by the fruits and vegetables in the city's orchards, Pink Intruder designed the welcoming (and obviously Instagram-friendly) mural at the Valencia Congress Center for the 2017 Annual Gathering and the Mayors’ Summit of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP).

Photo: Noel Arraiz.

Check out more of Pink Intruder's fun installations, like Renaixement at Burning Man 2016 and Ekklesia for Spain's 2015 Fallas Festival.

A self-taught designer builds a secret work studio on the underside of a bridge

2017-08-15T19:54:00-04:00

Abellanas’ secret cabin replicates the childhood experience of hiding under a table or in a closet – ‘The feeling kept hidden while still being able to hear and see what happens around us,’ he says. ‘Observing passing cars and trains with no one seeing me gives me great sense of peace.’

Fernando Abellanas, a self-taught designer from Valencia has created a pop-up studio into the underside of a traffic bridge. Its metal base is moved from one side of the bridge to the other by a hand crank along rails, where a shelf, chair, and desk have been bolted to the bridge’s concrete wall. Though a practical space, the tiny moveable workspace has whimsical origins—the secret urban refuge aims to replicate the childhood experience of hiding under a table or in a closet. "The feeling kept hidden while still being able to hear and see what happens around us," explains Abellanas. "Observing passing cars and trains with no one seeing me gives me great sense of peace."

Photography: Jose Manuel Pedrajas

The cabin’s exact location is a secret, and is part of a collection of spaces Abellanas is creating. ‘The project is an ephemeral intervention, [it will remain] until someone finds it and decides to steal the materials, or the authorities remove it,’ h...

Santiago Calatrava: Career highlights still to come

2015-06-09T15:00:00-04:00

This week Calatrava defended his projects. “The reality is that throughout my career I’ve tackled projects in Spain that I’m proud of,” he told Spanish daily El Mundo. [...] At 63 years old, Calatrava said he hoped the best of his career was still to come. “Many of the architects I admire have given the best of themselves as they mature,” he said. “I’m hoping to do the same.”

Previously:

Valencia sues Santiago Calatrava as white elephants rot

2013-12-30T15:06:00-05:00

Santiago Calatrava is facing legal action from his native city as the dazzling City of Arts and Sciences complex begins to fall apart just eight years after inauguration

Corrugated Cardboard Pavilion by Miguel Arraiz García / David Moreno Terrón

2013-05-07T16:49:00-04:00

We have received photos and a video of a pretty stunning temporary pavilion built with 3,000 corrugated hexagonal cardboard boxes for the annual “Fallas” festival in the Spanish city of Valencia. The pavilion design was a collaborative effort between Miguel Arraiz García of bipolaire arquitectos and David Moreno Terrón of Pink Intruder.

How A Spanish City Went Boom, Then Bust

2013-01-30T12:20:00-05:00

The Spanish region of Valencia has been called the "California of Spain" for its gorgeous Mediterranean coastline and modern architecture. But now Valencia epitomizes the worst of Spain's problems. It had the country's most inflated property market and the biggest crash. Its landscape is littered with empty and half-finished buildings.