The contemporary intervention on industrial heritage: la Fábrica de Hielo, Valencia, Spain

• Grant number: 19/22108-4
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): December 20, 2019
• Effective date (End): March 19, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Project
• Principal Investigator: Hélio Hirao
• Grantee: Davi Luis Galindo dos Santos
• Supervisor abroad: Luis Francisco Herrero Garcia
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil
• Local de pesquisa : Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia (UPV), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/26681-5 - Casa das Caldeiras of the IRFM - Indústrias Reunidas Fábricas Matarazzo, São Paulo: identification, recognition and intervention, BP.IC

Abstract

This research internship abroad, carried out at the Instituto Universitario de Restauración del Patrimonio (IRP), of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), aims to expand the knowledge about interventions on industrial pre existences, specifically the case of Fábrica de Hielo on Valencia, Spain, understanding the Restoration process from the contemporary point of view, as well as its recognition as a heritage through the cognition of its spatial appropriations and relations with the community, the surroundings and the city. Fábrica de Hielo was built in 1925 and it's one of the remaining buildings of the industrial architectural complex related to the fishing activity, in El Cabanyal neighborhood, where ice was produced and stored in cold rooms to increase the fish conservation. The city of Valencia had its urban environment fragmented in two parts: the old city center and the coastal portion, which was characterized by a port area and a strong fishing activity, expressed on its buildings. This scenario just changes at the end of the 20th Century, when both areas started to have an effective connection. During that time, proposals that wanted to modernize the city threatened the industrial heritage of the seafront and surrounding areas. After an extended period of idleness, Fábrica de Hielo became, in 2015, a socio-cultural space that hosts alternative artistic and cultural production. Therefore, spacial interventions were made in order to adapt the place to its new use. Having as a reference the contemporary theory of Restoration, this study proposes to make the inventory of its projectual process and its current state, experiencing its space and verifying the acknowledgment of the good by the local population. Thus, the results of this study intend to contribute to the composition of an analysis and reflections in continuity with Brazilian's study cases related to this research project, Casa das Caldeiras and Sesc Pompéia, both in São Paulo.