Valencia's CaixaForum

The new CaixaForum of Valencia will be installed inside the existing Ágora building of the Ciutat de les Ciències. The interior space of this unique building is an exceptional environment to host the activities of the CaixaForum.

We propose to use the entire interior of the Ágora as the great lobby of the CaixaForum, the meeting space of all its areas, the access space to its different areas and the place of reference for its activities.

For this we have arranged a set of volumes with different heights and positions that are interlaced with ramps, promenades and terraces, creating relationships with the original building without modifying it. Each ramp, walkway and terrace offer a different perspective of the interior volume that contains the new installation and of the other spaces of the CaixaForum. This game of visual relationship enriches and enlivens the visit, providing synergies between the various cultural activities that the CaixaForum, strengthening the informative and communicative capacity of this center.

Involving the areas of CaixaForum: a friendly dialogue with the Ágora, multiple communication surfaces

The linked volumes inside this great lobby are grouped into two large ensembles that rotate in height, to adapt to the changing structure of the Agora. They open different views, they shelter spaces, they offer exhibition areas, … and, above all, they free the ground floor to make it possible to visualize all the spaces of the CaixaForum as well as the interior of the Ágora building.

The walkway-promenade links all the volumes creating an elevated access route from which to observe the activities of the great lobby.

The volumes are wrapped in soft shapes that interact nicely with the concave interior of the Ágora building. They unfold forming a continuous surface from level 3 to the viewing terrace and the ramp that surrounds the ground floor auditorium.

The surfaces that envelope the CaixaForum work as a place of communication and adds dynamism to the cultural offer of the center. All surfaces be they walls or ceilings, support proposals for exhibition and activities: reflective ceilings, backlit, projected fabrics … they create spaces where to develop the cultural activities of our time, converting this CaixaForum into a very special space which celebrates culture and society.