In collaboration with FORO.
A former huevería in the historic neighbourhood of Patraix, Valencia, provides multiple opportunities to engage with the city and it’s resources, processes and personalities. The 19m2 'corner shop' was purchased, unseen and prior to a period of relocation, as a place to work in and on, and as a commitment to making strong and fruitful connections to the city.
Closed following retirement after 25 years as a family business, a design aim for the project could be to retain, re-present or remake recognisable features of the existing interior such that visiting previous owners would experience echoes of their time there.
Such a brief would emerge from use though – from being present at the space, interacting with the neighbours, understanding the history, learning the language, collecting resources, both material and human. From that, perhaps a propositional position on the neighbourhood will emerge, and from there, the possibility of engagement with the future and potential of this unusually distinct place.
An initial phase has seen the space rewound to a clean and habitable state, with a continual asessment of the value and quality of the found fabric.
An ongoing phase 2 is centred on presense, in the building, on the corner and within the community, and informs, in real time, ideas of a new public face and an interior which both respects to and overwrites the found interior. It will be a space to share, to pass on, and which makes a variety of futures possible.
A third phase will be the fabrication, in person, in converstion and utilising 'found' contacts, of the new interior and facade.
Beyond that, the premises will be occupied and shared - likely with people not yet met.
