Silicoy Valley
Location:
Alcoy (Spain)
Area:
10.300 m2 (in three locations)
Year:
2015
Authors:
María García Berná, Ignacio Galbis Lloréns.
Typology:
Heritage, Urban planning
Competition for the installation of an urban technology park in three plots occupied by old industries of the city of Alcoy. The plots are of very varied nature:
- Rodes And Co., block of the urban enlargement, next to the main shopping area of the city.
- Machinery Ceres, close and constricted between the old route of the N-340 and the slope that absolve crosses the height difference where the premises of the Polytechnic University of Valencia are located.
- Els Solers, in Molinar area, birthplace of the industrialization of Alcoy and example of industrial building from the eighteenth century moved by the hydraulic force of the river.
For the establishment of the technology sector in the places named, we formulate a strategy in time to stimulate different population groups and entrepreneurs according to the actions built in them. All will follow a natural cycle, as an ecosystem in which some species will give rise to others. Entrepreneurs installed in precarious but equipped spaces will give way to microenterprise that will experiment with their ideas and finally to SMEs, which will consolidate its companies within the same framework.
But as fruitful land needs sun, water and nutrients; these areas will require the following actions:
1) Open the unused buildings to citizens, making the minimum works needed to ensure accessibility and stability. Demolishing added constructions and removing façades will generate new public spaces accessible to everyone. The reform of key buildings will attract the population. Occupy protected buildings in good condition, provide them with facilities, especially wireless telecommunications network, and they will be very interesting for those who want to start a business project: entrepreneurs, our pioneer species.
2) Use all the opened buildings, either through entrepreneurs, who will continue colonizing them or through the first small bets, microenterprises; these grasses in this ecosystem will begin to replace existing spaces with their own buildings. To equip those first businesses to ensure their proper development. To build and fill the first gaps.
3) Transform buildings to accommodate all those who want to be placed on them. Build following the traces of the old structures to shape volumes that will house the trees of the local economy, SMEs.
The distribution proposed looks for to give an order to these actions around a high-quality public space, where pedestrian routes predominate and the historical background of the places stays present.