CaixaForum in Valencia from Cloud 9

At the beginning of March, the winner of the invited architectural competition for the reconstruction of “City of Arts and Sciences“ (Santiago Calatrava 2002, 2004) in Valencia, Spain, into a new CaixaForum cultural center was announced. The author of the winning design, which is to be implemented within Calatrava's building, is Spanish architect Enric Ruiz-Geli from the Cloud 9 studio. On a covered area of 6,500 m², a cultural center featuring exhibition halls, an auditorium for 300 spectators, two multipurpose rooms, a restaurant, educational classrooms, offices, and technical facilities is to be created for 18 million euros. In addition to a one-time investment for construction, CaixaForum has also decided to allocate 5 million euros annually for the operation of the center associated with family education. Enric Ruiz-Geli, the author of the winning design named Agora, fully embraces Calatrava's original structure and leaves as much of the open space as possible, which he complements with his small organic pavilions. The Cloud 9 intervention is intended to be light and empathetic to its environment, to further stimulate interest in art and science.