The project, designed by the practice el fabricante de espheras, focuses on the recovery of the cloistered space with the addition of a traditional clay floors, reflected in the mirrored surface. The use of a single material as a tool for the recovery of the cloister responds to the decision to end the unfinished classic elements of the courtyard downstairs and to enhance the ground floor of the Renaissance castle.
Description of the project by el fabricante de espheras
The starting point for the urban regeneration of the Palau-Castell de Betxí, was the attack against the Valencian heritage suffered in the decade of the 70’s. Half of the Renaissance cloister was lost, when it was invaded by two residential building blocks.
The revitalisation of the monument (protected with the top national rank, BIC) was claimed by several bodies of the Valencian Society, and supported by the city council of Betxí, during 20 years of abandonment.
The proposal is about the first of the 8 phases of the Master Plan of the monument, ended in July 2014, where the dividing preexisting wall is used as a support for a mirror that reflected the lost part of the Renaissance cloister. It evokes the past plenitude of the Palau-Castell and restores a forgotten urban space, that recovers the socio-cultural importance it had once.
The Palau-Castell Urban Regeneration has been awarded with the Ceramic Architecture Award ASCER 2014 recognizing the urban regeneration and the heritage protection of this architecture intervention using a mirror and traditional ceramics pavement.
