VALENCIA, OCTOBER, 1st 2021. The Project ¨Valencia 360¨ propelled by World Design Capital  Valencia 2022 in collaboration with the innovation center Las Naves of the City Council of Valencia and  directed by the independent organization Non Architecture Studio, has revealed the teams chosen to  create the five images in 360 degrees of different locations around the city that reflect the future of  Valencia in both dystopic and utopic visions.  

The allotment, the beach, the center, the new Túria channel and the Miramar tower are the five  locations of the city to imagine the future in 2050 and reflect on how design, art and architecture can  help us and create more sustainable cities with better wellbeing. The spaces selected allow for  reflection on key questions such as sustainability, natural resources, tourism, climate change,  gentrification, transportation and the economy.

The Valencian Quatre Caps, C•LAB Atelier, and Rarea; the Zimbabwean architect Lloyd Martin and  the young design students Ex Figura, formed by 2 Portuguese and Italian architects, are the teams  selected to develop the different images of the city of Valencia in 2050. Taking references from five  emblematic locations, they will capture their creative idea through a 360-degree virtual image in  which they will show two sides of the same coin; 180 degrees of a utopian vision and 180 degrees of  a dystopic vision.

The chosen professionals, with an average age of barely 30 years and eager to learn about  innovative solutions to designing spaces and architectural visualization, have been selected for the  disruptive character of their proposals, all of which focused on Valencia, and the powerful message  that they want to launch to the world in every one of the contexts: from the need for sustainable  growth to the dangers of irresponsible transportation on public roads, including the importance of  local production, the effects of technology on the environment and the preservation of Valencia´s  famous allotment, or la Huerta.

In the words of Xavi Calvo, director general of World Design Capital Valencia 2022, ¨Valencia 360 will  demonstrate in an impactful, visual way our will to transform the city and everything that comes with  a unique opportunity to reflect on the Valencia of the future. The new generation of designers are  capable and of participating and even leading a debate about the cities that we want not far in the  future. Valencia 360, like so many other projects and initiatives launched by World Design Capital Valencia, it aims to build a discourse and create a legacy that will go far beyond 2022.” 

The City Council of Valencia’s councillor of Innovation and Knowledge Management, Carlos Galiana,  has restated the importance of this project in which Las Naves is participating: ¨using innovation,  creation and reflection, we want to make a healthier, more sustainable, more cooperative and more  enterprising city, as we have laid out in our innovation strategy, Missions Valencia 2030. Thanks to  this creative outlook, we can see and imagine what the city could be like in the future¨.

Valencia in 360 degrees. A creative look at the city of the future 

For every location, each team selected will collaborate with Non Architecture Studio to create the  design for their vision of the theme ¨Valencia 2050¨. As the curators of the exhibition Non  Architecture Studio will accompany them throughout the process of investigation, experimentation  and design.

The 360-degree visualizations, which will be a mixture of artistic, design and architectural works, will  represent these future landscapes. The participants will receive compensation for their participation,  in addition to promotion of their work through World Design Capital Valencia 2022 media.

For the Valencia in 360 project Non Architecture have used their own method of design which they  have called ‘Gamification’; it consists of developing the project by overcome 12 levels that get  increasing more difficult, in which you can win ‘bonus points’. Once presented with the images, the  public will vote for their favourite, and these points will then be added to the previous bonus points  to choose a winner who will be awarded a prize.

The main purpose of this process is to find an alternative way to the conventional design process, so  as not to be overloaded with work at the end of the creative process, to ensure quality and  conceptual depth and to enhance the motivation of designers.

The people behind the designs that will bring forward 5 unexplored ideas for  the Valencia of 2050

Valencia 360 called for teams of students, professionals, and artists of up to 5 people who were  interested in working with Non Architecture Studio to develop striking panoramas that explore  Valencia in 2050: people curious about public space and the future of the city, with the capacity to  create images that show excellence, passionate about design and architecture and interested in  creating knowledge from design.

Quatre Caps  

Quatre Caps is a Valencian visualization studio formed by architects and artists. The 5 members are Bernat Ivars, Carlos López, Didac  Sendra, Juan Suay and Miguel Tomás. The studio is based on 3 main  pillars: the production of architectural and product visualisations for  studios such as MVRDV o Powerhouse, among others; teaching; and  graphic and conceptual research on personal projects where they  explore techniques like photogrammetry, retopology or virtual reality.  One of these personal projects, The Nice Host, was chosen as one of  the projects to represent Spain in the Biennale Architecture exhibition  in Venice. Their way of sending a message is through images, in which  they express their interests and concerns, that stretch from  urbanization to ecology.

@quatrecaps | https://quatrecaps.com

C•LAB Atelier 

C·LAB Atelier was conceived with the purpose of opening debate by  combining a critical focus with architectural expression. The project is  carried out with methods of collective research-experimentation, in  which social compromise is understood to have a key role in the  transformation of public spaces, using graphic tools as a common  language.

The members of the studio, Alicia Marco, Mar Monfort and Eduardo  Puentes are young architects from ETSA-UPV (Valencia), with  international training and experience in a range of disciplines. In their  collective work they combine their analytical capacity, technical focus  and cultural understanding with intention of knowing the needs of the  contemporary city to build new images in the context and culture of  Valencia.

@c.labatelier 

Lloyd Martin 

Lloyd was born in Zimbabwe, grew up in Botswana, trained in South  Africa and spent more than 8 years travelling. He is driven by the  search for new experiences in his social and creative environment. He  has worked in the Netherlands and London for 4 years in order to  research sustainable development in cities.

He is motivated by new creative solutions for the complex problems of  the built environment and believes in honest architecture that can  engage with its social and political environment. During the last few  years he has been instrumental in establishing a department of  Architecture in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he has also  began teaching classes. Currently he is exploring fields such as  augmented reality, digital mapping, virtual reality and interactive video  games, as well as visualization programs.

@lloydmartinarch | https://lloydevanmartin.wixsite.com/portfolio 

Ex Figura 

Ex Figura is a young studio with a focus on experimental design. ¨the  context is always the basis, the starting point for each decision.  Respecting the environment and thinking about the future are part of  the process.¨ 

The constant search for alternative ways of design, thinking about the  space and the materials turns into an endless number of references  that feeds their new creations. They consider everything that has been  previously created, regardless of the art form; the time period, the  culture or origin, and they take into account the different aspects of  these examples to make improved architecture. In the end, the new  atmospheres are perfectly connected to the world, to people and to  nature.

@ex.figura | https://exfigura.com

Rarea Studio 

RAREA is a studio formed by Patricia Mascarell and Daniel Vera, two Valencian architects who have settled in London. In their practice,  they seek to explore new methods to present their research and their  alternative vision of architecture, focusing being true flexibility,  nonlinearity, identity and power distribution.  This translates into projects that question invisible architecture and its  processes, from design to the act of living. Their narrative and visual  work is encouraging change through a wide range of formats and  styles: from cinema to installations and from dystopia to utopia.

@rareastudio | https://rareastudio.com 

About Valencia World Design Capital 2022 

Valencia will be the World Design Capital in 2022, after this designation was given by the renowned  World Design Organisation. The city of Valencia, and by extension the Valencian Community, is a  land of creativity. The work of professional in design, architecture, interior design and illustration  throughout the last 100 years demonstrates a culture of design that has been extended all  throughout the area.

The project, promoted by the Valencia Capital of Design Association, had its beginnings with the  boost of supporting organisations like the Ajuntament de València, the Generalitat Valenciana,  IVACE, Visit València, Feria Valencia and La Marina de València. In addition, the project is promoted  by other entities such as the Association of Valencian Designers (ADCV) and the College of Interior  Designer in the Valencian Community (CDICV).

The initiative has gone above and beyond the local level to become a national project with the help of  3 ministries: the Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and  the Ministry of Science and Innovation, in addition to many other institutions. They have also  received the help of businesses, collaborating with Actiu, Andreu World, Escato, Gandia Blasco  Group, Grupo Torrecid, Fuente Primavera, Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia, Industrias Saludes,  La Imprenta, Logopost, LZF Lamps, Padima, Point, Profiltek, Punt, Rolser, Tau Cerámica, Teika,  Veles e Vents, Vondom and Zumex, as well as with organisations like ComunitAD, READ, Art en  Blanc, Dimova, the Official College of Advertising of the Valencian Community and the Territorial  College of Architects of Valencia.

https://www.wdcvalencia2022.com/ 

About Non Architecture 

Non Architecture is an independent non-profit organisation that aims to reinvent spatial design,  especially reconsidering the rules, fundamentals and conventions surrounding architecture.

With and international team and a design community of thousands of people, Non Architecture  develops initiatives and projects to explore innovate solutions to design and models of experimental  collaboration. Non-Architecture is an intelligent community, a space of creative freedom and does  not limit itself to one discipline: it is everything that is not yet architecture.

Non-Architecture Studio is the organisations department that employs innovation and creativity  without limits, to disrupt the status quo of architecture with unexplored alternatives.

https://www.nonarchitecture.eu/

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