Ruzafa and its interior architecture
Its charm is based on a very strong aesthetic and architectural sediment..
If in this walk through the streets of Ruzafa, I didn't convince you about the fact that Ruzafa is Valencia's coolest neighbourhoodLet me insist again by showing you the inside of the neighbourhood. Hipsters and Italians are still the two most abundant species here, and since they happen to be the proxies of good taste, let's analyse what it is that attracts them so much here. (There's also a lot of Dutch, but I think they come for the beer...).
It is precisely an Italian, Giacomo Deluca, of the architecture studio Binomiowho inspires this text. Victor, our colleague in Monapart AlicanteHe contacted us because he knew of a couple of recently completed architectural projects in Ruzafa. I went to see him to gather information and to appreciate a detail that is no less interesting for being obvious.
The essence of a neighbourhood permeates its architecture.
It is logical that the socio-cultural characteristics of a given neighbourhood are manifested in its architecture. Moreover, it is a process that is reproduced in superimposed layers: we see moments of splendour, crisis, modernity, austerity and any other phase of the social situation. One of the projects presented to us by Giacomo is a masterly x-ray of this theory. Or to put it more prosaically, it is like capturing the modernity and elegance of the neighbourhood on a canvas from the beginning of the last century.
The history of Ruzafa over the last 140 years has been frenetic. And if that history has left its mark on the streets, imagine how it has done so on its façades and in its spaces.
The average age of its buildings is 100 years old, but that is not the crux of the matter, as this is the case in other neighbourhoods in Valencia. The crux of the matter is that, right now, Ruzafa is THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, and it is so because it has attracted a certain aesthetic interest, among other things. From a real estate point of view, people are attracted to Ruzafa by certain architectural features in a certain context. That is to say, we can find demand for that neighbourhood context without looking for those architectural features (the best example that comes to mind is Arrancapins, an attractive neighbourhood with much more heterogeneous construction), or demand for more unique housing in neighbourhoods that, at least for the moment, are not at the top of the ranking of cool neighbourhoods (such as la Roquetafor example). A similar case to Ruzafa is that of El Cabanyal, where a certain type of housing is being sought and now a certain neighbourhood is also being sought.
Those who are now looking for a jewel house to buy in Ruzafa can find it "wrapped in aluminium foil". There are still many flats in Ruzafa that were renovated in the seventies and eighties and after layers of stoneware, gotelé or plaster ceilings, they covered the hydraulic tile floors, lowered the high ceilings and covered the brick walls (although originally they were not usually visible). We are talking about a period when the decline of the neighbourhood was just beginning, when the population was ageing and the incoming demand was not very demanding.
Whoever is now looking for a jewel-home to buy in Ruzafa, can find it "wrapped in aluminium foil".
These architectural details, so appreciated today, are not visible but they are there and often the houses seek to recover their lost splendour. Hidden elements are recovered, bricks, wood and, when they can be recovered, hydraulic or mosaic tiles, all combined with a more modern and cared for aesthetic. And the street is also more alive, because:
(a) families used to be larger, and
b) we are a traditionally "cloistered" country, which meant that houses had more rooms -and corridors- than recommended, and that there was a preference for interior and blind rooms. Quite a drama.
I say "cloistered" in contrast to northern European countries, where there are homes with large windows without curtains, which filter neither the little sunlight nor the few prying eyes. Someone recently told me that there are few prying eyes because people don't give a damn what we do inside our house. He might be right... And it is an important statement insofar as many of those who are now buying property in Ruzafa are foreigners. The day we Valencians decide to reconquer Ruzafa, there will be a boom in the curtain-making sector.
The day we Valencians decide to reconquer Ruzafa, there will be a boom in the curtain manufacturing sector.
Nowadays, moreover, living spaces are being created that had previously either lost their value as such or simply did not exist. We are talking about opening up closed spaces under a roof to create attics, we are talking about giving life to porter's lodge attics or ground floors, or even about creating lofts, the real ones, reusing large open-plan spaces that previously had another use.
Special mention should be made of the premises, which are a more radical example of all the above. Modern aesthetics and the recovery of traditional spaces are taken to the limit. We must bear in mind that Ruzafa is leaving behind the paradigm of a neighbourhood of bazaars and wholesale shops in favour of a sophisticated hotel and catering business and shops with an artistic streak. Two examples: the studio of Creative Merry-go-roundour house, which creates an ambience that is at once ground-breaking and integrated, and the 2 Estaciones restaurantThe original black exterior woodwork -which drives us crazy- and the bar as the visual and operational engine. And the food is phenomenal, by the way.
In Ruzafa, the bazaars and wholesale shops have given way to sophisticated restaurants and shops with an artistic streak.
As with everything in life, this process tends to feed back on itself, and for every flat, locale or simple piece of hydraulic tile that comes to light, we have an army of creative people ready to restore its lost splendour. Asking our friend Vicente Ortuño of Tiovivo (an authoritative voice on the subject), he gives us a couple of names of interior design studios in the neighbourhood: Isho Design y Studio Transparent. We do not want to forget Hidràulic.codedicated to the salvage of hydraulic tile pieces.
In short, Ruzafa is a special and attractive neighbourhood, but outside the arbitrariness of hipster fashions, its charm is based on a very strong aesthetic and architectural sediment.Have I convinced you yet?
