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Architects: CRYSTALZOO
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Photographs:Rafael Galan, David Frutos
Text description provided by the architects. Located in a small town near Alicante called Novelda, this project involved renovating an old school building and its yard into a new public space that serves contemporary needs. In this sense the Casal de la Juventud reinvents itself and establishes a dialogue between each stage of its evolution.
The plaza is raised as a hub of social activity in Novelda. This system consists in connecting paths that also define soft areas that can adapt and establish links with what is happening inside the building.
Working with an old school offers the opportunity to have the yard, which is a valuable open space within the dense urban fabric. This courtyard is a place that complements and makes possible the use of this new building. Materiality and lighting are the way this project establishes new links and relationships between the building and the public space. The architects tried to provide complete and sophisticated equipment to this building and its plaza, through the installation of a new structure that surrounds the old school, with its own program, and also the support for the new activities. This structure provides lighting, energy and information systems, that define the specific environments for all the different situations that may happen.
