Heritage architecture is part of the romance of university campuses. But as educational institutions grow and expand, their design language often evolves with the trends of the time. Step onto the newly opened campus of Universidad Europea in Valencia, and you might be fooled into thinking it’s been around for centuries. Granted, you’d only be half wrong. Built in 1873, the neoclassical building once served as the San Juan Bautista Asylum — a hospice — before local firm Ramón Esteve Estudio stepped in to carefully restore the architecture while adapting it for an entirely new program.  

The building’s prime location in the heart of the city, opposite the Valencian Institute of Modern Art (IVAM) and next to the former Turia Riverbed, made it the perfect candidate for an urban campus. The structure also had good bones and respect for the pre-existing architecture was of the utmost importance to the designers. Preserving the historic elements — Nolla mosaics, stone floors, the chapel and the cloisters — was a no-brainer, but the layout needed some work to accommodate the academic program.

In designing the interior spaces, Ramón Esteve Estudio kept three characteristics top of mind: versatility, efficiency and functionality. Classrooms and offices are located in the two wings, with cloisters which serve as circulation areas and meeting points that seek to foster interactions between students and faculty. A double façade connects classrooms to both the exterior garden and the cloisters, filling them with natural light.

The building’s central body, meanwhile, houses common areas for gathering and collaboration; administrative areas face the main façade. Where new materials were introduced, the designers took great care in selecting contemporary finishes that wouldn’t fight with the original architecture.

This same sensitivity drove the firm’s approach in integrating the historic structure into the contemporary urban fabric. To accommodate the nearly 2000 students who would attend class there, Ramón Esteve Estudio designed a 1,750-square-metre annex at the west end of the site.

While the extension’s clean-lined design is decidedly modern, its materiality, colour palette and the rhythm of its façade feel of a piece with the pre-existing complex. “Ultimately, it creates a contemporary volume that integrates with the protected historic complex without compromising its architecture,” Esteve explains.

Combining heritage preservation with contemporary design, the campus maintains a harmonious dialogue between past and present. Setting a strong precedent for adaptive reuse, the architecture, like Universidad Europea itself, is doing its part to foster innovation in Valencia and beyond.