Valencia Littoral

  • Valencià, Spain
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Thanks to its strong industrial and commercial activities and to the growth of its port which ranks today as one of the largest in the Mediterranean, Valencia has undergone an ambitious urban mutation.

 

Reconciling Valencia’s historic center with its seafront is now essential.

 

The tourist industry should be developed through the improvement of the north beach and the creation of gateways between the seafront and the city’s historic quarters.

 

These neighbourhoods, the Malvarrosa, adjacent to the polytechnic university, and the Cabanal, which constitutes the linking point with the new pleasure port being developed for the America’s cup competition, should be gently rehabilitated and their public spaces sensitively treated.

 

The pleasure port, including the inner harbor and the future marina, will be developed along a vast circular arc that includes the existing industrial sheds, which will be preserved. The northern portion adjacent to the beach will serve as a transitional zone between the port and the beach and will be reserved for public facilities such as an open-air auditorium and shops placed beneath a huge drape. The northern part of the east jetty will receive housing blocks giving onto a large open square dedicated to holding festive, ephemeral events.

 

The public areas around the harbor will be covered in a technological deck allowing different types of temporary facilities to be “plugged in”. The sheds at the west end of the harbour will be the junction between the Turia estuary’s extended waterways and the port. The ferry terminal will be preserved. The eastern jetty, where the shipyard once was, will be lined with office buildings and housing blocks.

 

The ports will be put on show; the pleasure port, the industrial port and the ferry terminal, juxtaposed and situated in perspective, will be illuminated by night.
The bed of the rio Turia will be treated as a continuum of public gardens and sports facilities extending upstream to the city center

 

In the Grao area, tall, ladder-like buildings will punctuate the landscape. Construction on the Moreres lands will be treated as a transition to the Nazaret quarter.
New buildings in the Huertas will line the area’s periphery, whereas the horticultural lands will receive a treatment that accentuates the traditional fabric of fields and crisscrossing canals.

 

The southern beaches of Pinedo and El Saler constitute an ecologically fragile ensemble on the banks of the Albufera. This area needs to be treated delicately. a few planted pontoons could punctuate the long beach that extends to El Saler. Housing units will be discreetly built behind the dune and pine forest line.

 

 

Jean Nouvel