The Red Wall of Calpe.
It is not necessary to go very far to verify one of the most direct consequences of Instagram excesses . Calpe suffers them daily.
The red wall , located in the Urbanization of the Manzanera , was one of the buildings created by Ricardo Bofill in the city in 1973. A constructivist building with 50 apartments, secret patios, terraces with sea views, an outdoor pool and different solariums distributed in a perfect labyrinthine game.
Bofill designed it with the north african adobe towers and in the kasbah , but with Mediterranean airs. With a characteristic color range, it is a true jewel that many cannot resist, the only problem is that they are houses.
But what do we care when a photo for our Instagram is at stake? Undoubtedly, Ricardo Bofill did not count on the fact that years later his structure would become a TV set for narcissists and egomaniacs.
In June it was the Alicante Information Newspaper that published the statements of several residents of the building. “The invasion we suffer is crazy. Suddenly, you meet 20 people going up and down inside the Red Wall ”, pointed out one of them.
All for the photo.
The building only counts with comprehensive protection , so the posters of "passage prohibited to any outsider" that the neighbors have installed around the enclosure, do not scare away the curious who arrive attracted by the photos of other curious uploaded to Instagram. And so on loop.
Just go to Instagram to check it out: just 23 minutes ago a person had uploaded a photo with the hashtag #redwall , and there are already more than 5,000; 12.8k if the hashtag is #lamurllaroja and more than 200 if it is #muralojacalpe.
“ The Red Wall is a private building/property which is governed in its operation by its community of owners and on which the City Council, as such, has no jurisdiction . It is the community of owners that establishes the access regime to the building and the one that manages as best it considers its interests in terms of image exploitation (recording of advertising spots, etc.) of the same", Francisco Avargues explains to Traveler.es , Councilor for Tourism of the Calpe City Council.
And he continues: "In terms of management, as indicated, as the City Council lacks powers cannot carry out any type of action or management on the building . The City Council, through its Department of Tourism, simply limits itself to point out the location of Ricardo Bofill's buildings (not only Red Wall, but also Xanadu Y Amphitheater ) ”.
However, the declarations of the Department of Tourism are far from the reality lived and the neighbors declare: “In the opinion of the Department of Tourism of the City Council, there are no circumstances in the building that could be related to tourist saturation problems of the resource. There are no queues or crowds to access the building that would imply that the resource is overcrowded.
Is your future at stake?
The situation both of the building, which requires specific maintenance and is paid for by the residents themselves, and of the Manzanera area, of great heritage and landscape value because It houses 1,000 m2 of pine forests, the last lung of Calpe , is in play. So much so that the City Council has decided to suspend licenses due to the strong urban pressure in the area, that is how we learned about it this week thanks to eldiario.es.
In the meantime, the neighbors demand that it be declared a Site of Cultural Interest , both the Red Wall and the rest of Bofill's buildings, so that the law protects them. In that case, the buildings would be protected and the City Council would manage regulated tourist visits.
“In August 2014 the City Council in plenary session approved agreeing on the BIC request for the building and said request has been submitted to the competent body in the matter, without the case being resolved yet ”, they point out to Traveler.es from the Department of Tourism of the City Council.
In this wait for the resolution, perhaps it would be appropriate to reflect on our actions: Is it really worth everything for a photo? What will we do with it once we have uploaded it to our Instagram? Find another prey...? Would we like to come home (after a day of work) and find people installed at the door taking photos?