Architect Miguel Arraiz views the Valencia Market Venue as a gift to both the present and future of the city. The design thoughtfully explores traditional materials and craftsmanship native to the Valencia region, celebrating its cultural heritage. This tailored architectural approach enriches the city’s identity, offering citizens, businesses, and institutions a unique blend of tradition and innovation.
The venue employs modular and detachable construction techniques, utilizing materials and manufacturing systems that ensure a robust, streamlined, and durable structure.
Covering a total area of 350 square meters, this modular marketplace tells the story of a renowned design originating from the Mediterranean coast. It seamlessly integrates ceramics from both traditional and modern disciplines. Additionally, a wooden “vareta” created by artist Manolo García enriches the space, adding an artistic and cultural touch.
The structural framework stands 9 meters tall, encompassing a floor area of 24 by 10 meters. The building is enveloped by a curtain wall system developed collaboratively by Inalco and Wandegar. This system features MDI units positioned perpendicular to the facade, filtering light dynamically throughout the day. Light itself is treated as an aesthetic “building material,” working in harmony with facade modules to define the venue’s distinctive visual character.
The roof structure was crafted by Manolo García, a master carpenter and artist closely associated with Valencia’s traditional Fallas festival. García has reimagined artworks on this historic square, where he has previously created numerous pieces. The design incorporates Mediterranean wave motifs, symbolizing Valencia’s role as a cultural crossroads through the ages.
The facade and ceiling showcase Inalco’s signature materials, particularly the Silk Blanco series MDi. MDi represents a fusion of minerals, design, and innovation, crafted from the purest mineral materials to create a seamless and consistent facade aesthetic. This sustainable product incorporates 50% recycled materials sourced from its own manufacturing process. Moreover, its fully digital production technology conserves 70% of water resources and eliminates solvent use, setting a new standard in the global industry.
The engineering team integrated Wandegar’s innovative ceramic ceiling units into the project. They embraced the challenge of creating a unique curtain wall design that simplifies and lightens the structure without compromising safety or modular construction capabilities.
Arqueha Studio, coordinating the “Plan Zero” climate transition initiative across three Valencia communities, advances the project through sustainable parametric design and prefabrication. Employing digital tools like BIM and parametric modeling, architects have industrialized the integration of all elements, crafting unique, prefabricated, and removable frames that support the Flat noodles components.
The design strategy also emphasizes thermal comfort, carefully considering climate factors such as air circulation and sunlight exposure. The facade’s vertical Flat noodles provide sun protection by reducing radiation from the east and west. Meanwhile, the wooden roof filters southern light while promoting ventilation.
This passive design reduces indoor temperatures by approximately 10 degrees compared to surrounding areas, achieving thermal comfort without energy consumption and resulting in zero carbon emissions.
Why Does Valencia Need Market Venues?
Following the examples of Helsinki and Taipei, which established prominent public venues in their city centers in 2012 and 2016, Valencia aims to create its own iconic public square. This initiative will closely connect the public, businesses, institutions, and architecture across a broad urban area.
Valencia is a city shaped by centuries of design evolution. Its architecture, art, products, interiors, and graphic designs all reflect a deep-rooted cultural identity with a global mission. The Valencia Market Center aspires to be a gathering place for communities, tourists, and residents alike, encouraging participation to deepen understanding of Valencia’s design heritage.
This market highlights the presence of design in everyday life, emphasizing its vital role in building Valencia’s ideal urban future and acting as a catalyst for the city’s industrial and economic development.
Since being named the 2022 World Design Capital by the World Design Organization, Valencia has recognized the need for a central space to embody this prestigious plan. This venue will connect buildings and people, showcasing urban design alongside the city’s industrial and technological strengths.
The market will stand as a forward-looking space that unites sustainable design, innovation, and traditional materials. Located in the City Hall Square, it will become a landmark that encapsulates Valencia’s identity, telling the story of its industrial ceramic heritage while echoing Mediterranean waves through its roof design. The architecture also pays homage to Valencia’s iconic Fallas Festival.
A Space Open to Everyone
The Valencia Market Venue serves as the spiritual core of the 2022 World Design Capital Valencia Plan. It will host a wide range of projects, exhibitions, talks, and conferences daily, becoming a vibrant hub for locals and visitors alike starting in June.
Here, everyone can experience Valencia’s distinctive design culture and engage with the professionals, institutions, and businesses driving innovation and creativity.
The venue will act as a central hub to disseminate Valencia’s 2022 plan, hosting open forums for design discussions, conferences, lectures, and educational workshops accessible to the public and professionals.
This building demonstrates how design enhances daily life, bringing together experts and citizens eager to engage with the project. The market will host conferences covering urban planning, ecology, international perspectives, sustainable development, and more, inviting industry leaders to contribute to its ongoing evolution.
Starting in July, Valencia will host the monthly “Design and City” conference on the 22nd of each month to celebrate its first year as the Design Capital. The market venue will play a key role in connecting citizens, institutions, and professionals, fostering dialogue on how design improves lives.
Additionally, the venue’s event schedule includes several days dedicated to children’s activities, such as workshops, music festivals, and family art projects on weekends. It will also serve as a platform for promoting innovation through media meetings, live radio broadcasts, professional talks, and social gatherings for leisure and entertainment.
Project Drawings
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Project Information
Architect: Arqueha, Miguel Arraiz
Area: 350 m²
Project Year: 2022
Manufacturers: Iguzzinni, Inalco, Wandegar
Consultant: Cosín Estudio
Structural Engineer: Josep Martí
Construction: ATG Desarrollos
Roof Design: Manolo García Carpintería Artística
Floodlight Design: Radiante Creative Studio
Visualization: Quatre Caps
Location: Valencia, Spain
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