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ACTIU Berbegal y Formas, S.A.
elCASC, the festival which aims to rehabilitate the historic town of Villena, arrives at Actiu

elCASC, the festival which aims to rehabilitate the historic town of Villena, arrives at Actiu

JULY 2014 | 3 minutes

ElCasc is an international festival which, for the second consecutive year, aims to revive urban and social materials, establishing a small test field applied to the study of urban, social, cultural and technological problems and potentials, in this case the historic centre of Villena.

For ten days, over one hundred professionals (amongst tutors and participants), mainly from the world of architecture, but also from other disciplines such as music, audiovisual, ecology and anthropology, study, through workshops, alternatives and solutions to revitalise and integrate the historic town of Villena into the whole city, in a participatory and proactive way with the residents from the neighbourhood.

The organisers of this initiative bring a pedagogical vision to architecture in order that children, youngsters and adults get to know and take on board the values of the town. Some pre-existing values are already there, but unknown and through fun ideas and collaboration, involve the neighbours in the ideas, projects and improvement and recuperation objectives.

Re-actiu Territory moved for one day the spirit of Elcasc to Actiu. The Company from Alicante, specialising in the manufacture of furniture for work spaces, shared its core values which move this initiative and using this link have promoted the collaboration of Actiu in the event through the supply of materials and products for the workshops of Villena and through the organisation of a work shop with a a very fun ending at the Technology Park.

Cardboard boxes, chair seats, pallets, desks and auditorium seating, have been reinvented to be used with, in many cases, a different functionality than what they were created for. Precisely one of the aims of the day, attended by around one hundred people amongst tutors, El Casc participants and residents of the old town of Villena, were shown how nearly all objects could have a second life, including a third with a small amount of imagination and creativity.

During the morning of intense activity, the different architectural firms who lead the Elcasc workshops have built with materials and Actiu products, a pavilion where a table tennis tournament was played. Each firm was in charge of developing a part of the pavilion, depending on its specialty or professional profile. The distribution of space, by Grupo Aranea; the scenery was executed by Senyor Mixuro and Arae, the stands for the spectators and judges were the work of Pez Estudio and La Gres and the development of games, in the midst of a completely festive atmosphere, was carried out by the collective Breakfast with Pedestrians.

The reuse, conservation, utilisation and energy savings, sustainability, respect for the environment and the people who inhabit it as the base for urban and architectonic recuperation are the arguments that El Casc use and furthermore form part of the essence of Actiu. And so they have outlined some of the main studies after visiting Actiu. “Staying and growing within your territory, involving third party members is already an achievement for an industry” said Javier Molinero, from Senyor Mixuro and he added “we believe this is the way of working”. Fernando Navarro, one of the organisers from El Casc said “we share the same values; Actiu has grown industrially, giving value to the area and revitalising the environment”.

Soledat Berbegal, responsible for the Communications and Marketing department, has expressed satisfaction of having the opportunity to once again support initiatives of this nature “with which we can really identify with”. On this day a group of children from the historic town of Villena participated, the children of tutors, the organisers and the workers of Actiu. “We have had the opportunity to create a fun, sporty space within a work space. The world of industry mixed with training, social needs, creativity and architecture. We believe the results of these meetings are highly positive”.