bombyx-mori

"Fast fashion" uses threads imported from Asia and discards 88% of clothing in African landfills. The project recycles 10k tonnes of discarded clothing in Valencia to create threads for the industry, promote domestic self-recycling, and produce awnings to protect public spaces from extreme heat. By linking the areas most affected by the Urban Heat Island effect with the most vulnerable neighbourhoods, I have chosen the peripheral neighbourhood of Benimámet. The project builds the transition between rural and urban areas in a wasteland next to the orchards of Valencia.

Located in Benimámet, an outlying neighbourhood of Valencia affected by the Urban Heat Island, this project is a hybrid of a textile recycling factory, park and parking. It transforms a vacant lot next to a residential area into a park that integrates industrial and natural elements. The hybridisation of functions aims to add complexity to the city, creating spaces that connect with nature and support recreational uses. A grotto-like structure is incorporated into the park, serving as a park-and-ride facility. The industrial recycling process becomes an educational spectacle that culminates in a large covered atrium, where people celebrates recycling: a new “Lonja de la Seda” showcasing the production of recycled awnings. Combines two types of spaces: one with primitive concrete, anchored to the earth and offering high thermal inertia and another with a lightweight, industrial metal structure more sensitive to thermal variation. Solar chimneys and wind towers are used to regulate temperature. The building uses the earth as formwork and recycles the site’s stone remains to create eco-friendly concrete. The green roof serves not only people but also animals such as Bombyx mori —silkworms—. An icon of recycling that invites people to come in, participate, enjoy and learn. It functions as an urban machine for recycled textiles, dressing and undressing itself with materials it produces, using a retractable textile façade system that allows it to change. The project exhibits qualities of nature, leaves space for future development, with Valencia steering its connection to textiles. By reintegrating surplus clothing that would otherwise end up in landfills into the city’s metabolism—through awnings, facades and domestic-scale applications—it becomes a silkworm for Valencia.