Barcelona

Urban ­
Architecture
and
Community
Since 2010

Heide Wessely,
Sandra Hofmeister
(Ed.)
Barcelona
Urban
­Architecture
and
­Community
Since 2010
Content

Antoni Gaudí’s Legacy 008

Community Spaces
 ○1 Encants Flea Market b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos
 ○2 La Comunal Cultural Quarter Lacol 024
Essay  From S ­ uperblocks to Green Axes Lorenzo Kárász 032
 ○3 Turó de la Peira Sports C
­ entre Anna Noguera, Javier Fernandez 040
 ○4 Kālida
 Sant Pau Cancer Support Centre Benedetta Tagliabue – 046
EMBT Architects 054
 ○5 Lleialtat Santsenca ­Community Centre Harquitectes 060
Interview Harquitectes: History is Part of the Present 068
 ○6 Cristalleries Planell Community Centre Harquitectes 074
 ○7 Rambla in Sants Sergi Godia, Ana Molino 084
 ○8 Camp
 del Ferro Sports C
­ entre AIA Activitats Arquitectòniques, ­ 094
Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes, Gustau Gili Galfetti
Essay  Post-­Olympic Trans­formation Rafael Goméz-Moriana 102
 ○9 Porta Trinitat C
­ ommunity Centre haz arquitectura 110
 ○
10 Mercabarna Flor Flower Market WMA – Willy Müller Architects 116

004
Culture and Education
 ○
11 Sala Beckett Theatre Flores & Prats Arquitectes 132
 ○
12 Oliva Artés Museum BAAS Arquitectura 140
 ○
13 Montbau-Albert Pérez Baró Library Oliveras Boix Arquitectes 148
Essay ­Industrial Heritage as an O­ pportunity Heide Wessely 156
 ○
14 EMAV
 School for A
­ udiovisual Media JAAS 166
 ○
15 Montserrat Abelló Library Ricard Mercadé / Aurora Fernández 174
arquitectes
 ○
16 French Preschool b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos 182
 ○
17 School 906 Harquitectes 188
Interview Anna Ramos: European Perspectives 196
 ○
18 Bressol Xiroi Daycare Centre Espinet / Ubach 202
 ○
19 Autonomous
 University of Barcelona Research Centre ­ 208
Harquitectes, dataAE
 ○
20 La Mar Bella Primary School SUMO Arquitectes 216

At Home in the City

 ○
21 APROP Housing for People in Need Straddle3, Eulia Arkitektura, 230
Yaiza Terré
 ○
22 Fabra i Coats Apartments Roldán + Berengué 236
 ○
23 La Borda Housing C ­ ooperative Lacol 244
Interview Lacol: Working Together to Shape the City 252
 ○
24 La Balma Housing C ­ ooperative Lacol, La Boqueria 260
 ○
25 Caracol Residential Building Estudio Herreros, MIM-A 270
 ○
26 Apartment Building Lola Domènech, Lussi Studio 278
 ○
27 Alí
 Bei Social Housing Arquitectura Produccions, Pau Vidal, ­ 286
Vivas ­Arquitectos
Essay  Housing and Politics Jelena Prokopljević 294
 ○
28 85 Subsidized Apartments Peris+Toral Arquitectes 302
 29 57○
 Student Dwellings dataAE, Harquitectes 310
 ○
30 Torre
 Júlia Senior Residence Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons, ­ 316
Ricard Galiana

Appendix
Architects 326
Imprint, Picture Credits 328

BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010 005

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Projects
○
 1 Encants Flea Market b720 Fermín ○
 16 F
 rench Preschool b720 Fermín
­Vázquez Arquitectos Vázquez Arquitectos
○
 2 La Comunal Cultural Quarter Lacol ○
 17 School 906 Harquitectes
○
 3 Turó  de la Peira Sports C
­ entre Anna ○
 18 Bressol
 Xiroi Daycare Centre Espinet /
Noguera, ­Javier Fernandez Ubach
○
 4 Kālida  Sant Pau Cancer Support ○
 19 Autonomous
­ University of Barcelona
Centre Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Research Centre H ­ arquitectes, dataAE
­Architects ○
20 La  Mar Bella Primary School SUMO
○
 5 Lleialtat
 Santsenca ­Community Centre Arquitectes
Harquitectes ○
 21 APROP
 Housing for People in Need
○
 6 Cristalleries
­ Planell ­Harquitectes Straddle3, Eulia Arkitektura, Yaiza
○
 7 Rambla  in Sants Sergi Godia, Terré
Ana ­Molino ○
 22 Fabra
 i Coats Apartments Roldán +
○
 8 Camp  del Ferro Sports Centre Berengué
AIA Activitats Arquitectòniques, ○ 23 La  Borda Housing C ­ ooperative Lacol
­Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes, Gustau ○
 24 La  Balma Housing Cooperative Lacol,
Gili Galfetti La Boqueria
○
 9 Porta  Trinitat C
­ ommunity Centre ○
 25 C  aracol Residential Building Estudio
haz arquitectura Herreros, MIM-A
○
 10 Mercabarna
 Flor F
­ lower Market ○
26 Apartment
 Building Lola Domènech,
WMA – Willy Müller Architects Lussi Studio
○
 11 Sala  Beckett Theatre Flores & Prats ○
 27 Alí  Bei Social Housing Arquitectura
­Arquitectes Produccions, Pau Vidal,
○
 12 Oliva  Artés Museum ­Vivas ­Arquitectos
BAAS ­Arquitectura ○
 28 85  Subsidized Apartments Peris+Toral
○
 13 Montbau-Albert
 Pérez Baró Library Arquitectes
Oliveras Boix Arquitectes ○
29 57  Student Dwellings dataAE,
○
 14 E  MAV School for A ­ udiovisual Media ­Harquitectes
JAAS ○
30 Torre Júlia Senior Residence Pau Vidal,
○
 15 Montserrat
 Abelló Library Sergi Pons, ­Ricard Galiana
­Ricard ­Mercadé / Aurora Fernández
arquitectes
Antoni Gaudí’s
Legacy

008 BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010

Barcelona is a city that is constantly changing in character, taking
on a new face from time to time. Its transformations are clearly
visible on the city map: the dense medieval old town and the first
urban expansion after the fall of the city walls with the square city
blocks by Ildefons Cerdà lend Barcelona its uniqueness; the 1992
Olympic Games also led to major upgrades to the urban fabric.
Today, the proud Catalan capital is taking inventive and creative
approaches to urban development and architecture to address
issues defining our time: the climate crisis, the need for afforda-
ble housing, and building for the community.
The most famous name in Barcelona architecture to this
day is Antoni Gaudí. His exotic buildings are tourist magnets
and continue to fascinate generations of architects and non-­
architects from around the world.
Gaudí is known as a proponent of Modernisme, the Catalan
Art Nouveau style that flourished until the 1920s to widespread
acclaim. The concentration of modernista buildings is highest in
Eixample, the district that the Catalan urban planner Ildefons
Cerdà laid out in 1860 in a checkerboard pattern to expand the
city. It is also home to Antoni Gaudí’s most famous buildings, such
as the Sagrada Família, Casa Batlló, and Casa Milà. The latter was
not without controversy at the time of its construction, and imagi-
native Barcelonians soon dubbed it “La Pedrera”, meaning stone
quarry, because of its massive natural stone f­ acade. Shortly after
its completion in 1912, the city declared Casa Milà a work of art,
and the residence became the first 20th-­century building to be
added to Unesco’s World Heritage List.
Casa Milà was groundbreaking in many ways. The building has
no load-bearing walls but a supporting structure made of pillars
and arches, and even during the design phase Gaudí was already
planning for the later reconfiguration of its floor plans. The multi-
storey building was designed to be used as a residence, office
building, or retail shops – representing a flexible approach that
is also very important for architecture today. For example, the

Antoni Gaudí’s Legacy Heide Wessely, Sandra Hofmeister 009

architecture collective Lacol, which won the 2022 Mies van der
Rohe Award for Emerging Architects, is responding to user needs
that change over the years with adaptable floor plans.
Another characteristic of Gaudí’s residential buildings is their
ingenious ventilation concepts. Supply and exhaust systems,
cross-ventilation, cooling green courtyards, and thermal mass
activation in the broader sense are measures that continue to
play an important role in architecture today. Examples include
the social housing complex in Cornellà by Peris + Toral (p. 302)
and the community centre by Haz Arquitectes (p. 110). Meanwhile,
Harquitectes are replacing energy-intensive air conditioning
systems with shading and ventilation mechanisms that are as
intelligent as they are simple. They take up another method Gaudí
used in the past: material recycling. Casa Milà’s wrought-iron
railings, for example, are made of scrap metal, and at Casa Batlló,
a former apartment building, reused ceramic tiles combine on the
facades to ­create imaginative mosaics.
Techniques that placed Gaudí well ahead of his time are
­coming back into focus today in the search for sustainable and
climate-friendly construction solutions – a highly topical issue,
as Barcelona is becoming increasingly hot. The city’s special
location is both a charm and a curse. Sandwiched between the
mountains and the sea, it has no way to expand, so it has become
denser than most metropolitan areas in Europe. It has 16,600
inhabitants per square kilometre – only Paris has more. This
­density offers advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand,
the things of daily life are within walking distance. On the other
hand, this density also means noise, dirt, and very little green.
The socialist city administration has therefore set everything in
­motion to relieve the city of car traffic. In Eixample, new green
avenues and pedestrian zones are being established. Reduced-­
traffic Superblocks – clusters of city blocks connected by “green
axes” and car-free plazas at their intersections – are to be creat-
ed within the block grid.

010 BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010

The chimneys at Casa Milà (also called
La Pedrera), designed by Antonio Gaudí,
look like otherworldly figures.

Antoni Gaudí’s Legacy Heide Wessely, Sandra Hofmeister 011

 The urban expansion masterminded ­ arcelona grew significantly, incorporat-
B
by Ildefons Cerdá in 1860 still shapes ing the surrounding villages.
the structure of the city. Over time,

012 BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010

The city is in dire need of more greenery. After a close succession
of heat waves, policymakers launched a programme to address
the climate crisis, which is described on the city website in the
section “Barcelona for Climate.” It also identifies “climate shel-
ters” where particularly vulnerable groups can seek refuge if they
can no longer bear the heat in their homes. The shelters are not
to exceed an indoor temperature of 27 °C; they offer free water
and provide rest areas with seating. In addition to schools and
covered spaces, recent additions include more shade roofs and
small urban locations such as courtyards. The city’s aim is
to build a dense network of climate shelters so people can ac-
cess one in less than five minutes. The shelters are also open
in winter, with an indoor temperature of at least 19 °C, because
many of the low-cost buildings erected during the Franco era
still have no heating.
Not only the socialist government, which is still in office, but
also several housing cooperatives are striving to give more sup-
port to people who are less well off. While their projects do little
to ease the great housing shortage, they exemplify a positive
shift in perspective. In terms of programming, nearly all of these
new apartment buildings include a variety of uses under one
roof, from communal facilities for residents to daycare centres,
movie theatres, shops, and co-working spaces. Mixed-use is also
noticeable in Cerdà’s Eixample, where the strict grid combines
heterogeneous buildings from different eras, and eaves heights
vary by several storeys. Their uses are just as varied: office
­buildings alternate with apartment buildings, and ground-floor
retail spaces feature everything from bakeries and supermarkets
to hardware stores and motorcycle repair shops, side by side.
Barcelona has become a city of short distances, although it was
never intentionally designed that way; Cerdà’s original idea was
rather that of a garden city. Only one-third of the blocks were to
be built on – leaving the rest free for green landscapes and com-
munity spaces. However, land speculation thwarted those plans

Antoni Gaudí’s Legacy Heide Wessely, Sandra Hofmeister 013

from the outset, and Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, which was
intended to serve as the new city centre, instead became a trans-
portation hub. As part of the ambitious urban revitalization plan
22@, the plaza will now be turned into a park, and the once-in-
dustrial area will be transformed into a future-forward district for
innovation and advanced technology.
Barcelona is already smart today. For example, parking ­spaces
in underground garages can be booked using an app. Sensors in
the ground provide information on available parking spaces, and
bus stops inform travellers where the bus is currently running.
Intelligent streetlights only light up when necessary, and sensors
in trash bins report when they need to be emptied. Another cen-
tral element in the city’s digital portfolio is Decidim, an online
participatory democracy platform where citizens can vote on
which projects should be implemented and how much money
should be spent on them.
Citizen participation is clearly important to the city adminis-
tration. However, whether this also applies to one particularly
controversial issue in the city remains uncertain. With the
­Sagrada Família, Gaudí left behind a momentous urban legacy,
and construction of the long-unfinished church is finally due
to be completed in 2026. Yet since the beginning of its construc-
tion some 140 years ago, the city has increasingly closed in on
the church, which is now flanked on two sides by urban blocks.
Unfortunately, the basilica’s main entrance is located on one of
these sides, and Gaudí’s plan called for a sweeping staircase to
lead to it. But residential buildings are in the way, so the city
administration is loudly considering emptying two blocks com-
pletely. That would mean relocating some 3,000 residents –
­dynamite that does not bode well for an easy solution. What
residents suffer is a tourists’ delight: 3.5 million visitors come
to the Sagrada Família every year where they are enthralled by
the imaginative interior, reminiscent of an enchanted forest.
Perhaps that is why Gaudí’s works are still so fascinating today.

014 BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010

Visiting them is a brief escape from the serious reality of the
present – into a bright, colourful, fantastic world.
This book is a portrait of the city that records the current
status of architecture and urban planning and captures their
development through 30 examples. It highlights clear trends,
such as community-oriented building, which is more strongly
represented in Barcelona than in many other European metro­
polises. The city’s 38 market halls, along with public squares
and community centres, serve as lively everyday meeting places.
The many museums and outstanding school buildings testify
to the high value placed on education and culture for all. Last
but not least, more affordable living spaces are being created
through exemplary social housing and, increasingly, cooperative
housing projects, making people feel at home in the city. Essays
in this book on housing policy, urban development, and industrial
heritage provide a look behind the scenes, while select protago-
nists share their insights and personal views about their city in
interviews.

Heide Wessely, Sandra Hofmeister

Antoni Gaudí’s Legacy Heide Wessely, Sandra Hofmeister 015

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Community
Spaces

 ○ 1 Encants Flea Market b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos 024

 ○ 2 La Comunal Cultural Quarter Lacol 032
Essay  From S ­ uperblocks to Green Axes Lorenzo Kárász 040
 ○ 3 Turó de la Peira Sports C
­ entre Anna Noguera, Javier Fernandez 046
 ○ 4 Kālida Sant Pau Cancer Support Centre Benedetta Tagliabue – 054
EMBT Architects
 ○ 5 Lleialtat Santsenca ­Community Centre Harquitectes 060
Interview Harquitectes: History is Part of the Present 068
 ○ 6 Cristalleries Planell Community Centre Harquitectes 074
 ○ 7 Rambla in Sants Sergi Godia, Ana Molino 084
 ○ 8 Camp
 del Ferro Sports C­ entre AIA Activitats Arquitectòniques, ­ 094
Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes, Gustau Gili Galfetti
Essay  Post-­Olympic Trans­formation Rafael Goméz-Moriana 102
 ○ 9 Porta Trinitat C­ ommunity Centre haz arquitectura 110
○
 10 Mercabarna Flor F ­ lower Market WMA – Willy Müller Architects 116
 The avenue Diagonal slices through square blocks with chamfered corners.
the Eixample neighbourhood to the Eixample is one of the most densely
018 COMMUNITY SPACES sea. Around 265,000 people live in the populated areas in Europe.
Eixample expansion district Ildefons Cerdá 019
 Mercat de Santa Caterina opened a ­colourful, undulating roof in 2001
in 1884 and was the first covered t­ ransformed the market into an urban
020 COMMUNITY SPACES ­market in the city. The erection of landmark.
Santa Caterina Market Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects 021
 Goodbye cars, hello pedestrians. The Gràcia into a vibrant community space
city transformed this square in the where young and old now meet, play,
022 COMMUNITY SPACES densely populated neighbourhood of and relax.
Plaça de Gal la Placídia square Barcelona City Council 023
 Client: Barcelona d’Infraestructures Carrer de los Castillejos 158, Eixample
­Municipals, Ajuntament de Barcelona 🌐 encantsbarcelona.com
Structural design: Boma @encantsbarcelona
Completion: 2013
Area: 35,440 m2
Use: Flea market

1 b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

History Meets the Future

Encants Flea Market

A flea market? The conspicuously angular, glittering roof looks less like
a typical flea market than a futuristic spaceship. Mercat dels Encants
is a veritable landmark, visible from afar as you drive along the north-
south thoroughfare towards Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, or Glòries
for short. The flea market was located there in the past as well. In 2013,
it finally received a roof, but on a smaller area with only 8,000 m2. The
architects wanted to avoid evoking a shopping mall with a multistorey
structure, so they developed retail streets on slightly inclined levels
that merge into one another to form an endless loop. This also con-
nects the various street levels and the multilevel underground parking
garage used by vendors and visitors alike. People haggle and bargain 025
across 35,440 m2 at a variety of sales points: permanently installed booths,
portable tables, and blankets – all in the shade of the striking giant roof.
Hovering 25 metres above the ground, it allows a pleasant breeze to circu-
late and gives the impression of an outdoor market.
The somewhat triangular roof surface is segmented into areas of
different sizes and angles. Its shimmering gold underside reflects the hus-
tle and bustle of the market with kaleidoscopic effects, making the view
upwards at least as exciting as the view of the activities below. Sunlight
fills the space, falling through skylights formed through the bends in the
roof surfaces. Mercat dels Encants is said to have existed as early as the
14th century, when used goods were laid out on the ground for sale out-
side the city gates. Over the centuries, its location has changed several
times, finding its most recent home under the futuristic roof on Plaça de
les Glòries Catalanes. hw

Site plan Scale 1:8000 1 Mercat dels Encants 3 Torre Glòries

2 Plaça de les Glòries (former Torre Agbar)
Catalanes Architect: Jean
­Nouvel

026 COMMUNITY SPACES

The flea market will soon benefit from alanes. ­Idefons Cerdá already ­envisioned
the circular green plaza currently ­being the public space as a new urban centre
developed at Plaça de les Glòries Cat- in 1860.

○1 Entcants Flea Market b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos 027

028 COMMUNITY SPACES
 aa

Section, floor plan Scale 1:1000 1 Permanent 2 Ramp 4 Void

stands 3 Sales tables 5 Food area

1 2 3 4

Upper level

○1 Encants Flea Market b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos 029

030 COMMUNITY SPACES
○1 Encants Flea Market b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos 031
 Client: La Comunal Riera d’Escuder 38, Sants
Structural design: Lacol 🌐 lacomunal.coop
Completion: 2020 @lacomunalsants
Area: 1445 m2
Use: Offices, bookstore, cultural
centre with restaurant and concert
stage, climate shelter.

2 Lacol

Cooperative, Communal,
Social
La Comunal Cultural
Quarter

Wandering through the neighbourhood of Sants, a member of the

Lacol architecture collective discovered an abandoned warehouse for
ship sails. After being vacant for around 15 years, the listed building
from 1926 seemed to be waiting for a new purpose, and Lacol had been
looking for new office space for some time. They eventually negotiated
a 25-year lease with the private owner – who also commissioned them
to refurbish the whole warehouse. The building’s staggered front fa-
cade opening onto small triangular squares facing the street used to
be the back of the building, surrounded by a high wall; the transition in
the flooring is a reminder of the original configuration. Bicycle racks,
a tree, and planters have transformed other areas of the complex into
attractive public zones leading to the inner courtyard. 033
Ten tenants work under one roof in the repurposed warehouse, which
is organized as a cooperative. They include a bookstore, a cultural c­ entre
with a restaurant and music stage, a human rights organization, and
the offices of Lacol. It was a challenge to convert the existing building,
with its thin walls and lack of insulation, while meeting high standards
for ­energy-efficiency and minimizing the noise from live music. On top
of that were the strict requirements for the protection of historical mon-
uments. But intensive negotiations with authorities and the neighbour-
hood ultimately led to the projects’s success. For example, one of the
entrances to the cultural quarter is located in the courtyard, acting as a
noise buffer during concerts. In addition, the local residents can use the
courtyard as a “climate shelter”. The city has initiated a network of urban
acupuncture measures to create spaces that provide those in need with
relief from the summer heat through vegetation, water fountains, and

building infrastructure improvements to help citizens endure the summer

heat better.
To meet the historic preservation requirements at the La Comunal
site, Lacol left the rear street facade virtually untouched, although the
rooms on that side could have used more natural light. They had to do a
lot of convincing to install the glass skylight, which provides ventilation
and cools the building. There is no air conditioning; building services and
circulation areas are kept to a minimum. Lacol was also thrifty in its sourc-
ing of materials. For example, the narrow beams of an old floor slab were
reused as formwork boards for the roof and a manufacturer of sandwich
panels provided overstock insulation boards that now lie under the floor
slab. Rainwater is collected in an underground cistern, and the facades are
insulated with lime plaster mixed with cork in accordance with the preser-
vation regulations. With these measures, Lacol has created a cooperative
building that is cost-effective, energy-efficient, and sustainable, while
creating added value for the neighbourhood. hw

034 COMMUNITY SPACES

Site plan Scale 1:2500

In the past, the current rear side of La

Comunal was the front, where horse-
drawn carts would deliver goods to the
former warehouse.

○
2 La Comunal Cultural Quarter Lacol 035
036 COMMUNITY SPACES
aa bb

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:750 1 Office 4 Common room 6 Conference

2 Bookstore 5 Architecture room (for rent)
3 Restaurant with cooperative
stage Lacol

5
1 1
3

First floor

1 2
a a
3

4
b

Ground floor

○
2 La Comunal Cultural Quarter Lacol 037
038 COMMUNITY SPACES
○
2 La Comunal Cultural Quarter Lacol 039
 Fewer cars in daily life: Superblocks
and green axes aim to make the city
040 COMMUNITY SPACES healthier and more pedestrian-friendly.
From
­Superblocks
to Green
Axes
Lorenzo Kárász

BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010 041

On Sundays, I like to walk with my children to the Mercat de Sant Antoni, which is right
in our neighbourhood. There, amidst like-minded people, we swap Pokemon trading
cards and browse the traditional book market around the renovated market hall. No
car traffic makes it a safe zone for the children. We are lucky to live in one of Barcelo-
na’s green, low-traffic superblocks, where we can escape the otherwise omnipresent
car traffic of the city.

Barcelona is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe today,

with only 1.9 m2 of green space available to each resident in the com-
pact Eixample neighbourhood. That is far below the standard targeted
by the European Union, which is 20 m2. On the other hand, we have
the most taxis and motorcycles per inhabitant, which undoubtedly
contributes to the fact that Barcelona is also considered a particularly
noisy city. In addition, there is a high level of air pollution and a general
lack of public spaces, even though numerous open spaces have been
created in the dense urban fabric since the 1980s through demolition
and systematic de-densification.

The ideal city of Eixample

But things should actually have turned out quite differently. Around
1850, Barcelona was bursting at the seams. When the city walls finally
fell, the Catalan engineer Ildefons Cerdà was commissioned to design
the city’s expansion. For this purpose, he created a new academic dis-
cipline, researching the living conditions of the population and study-
ing all the relevant urban development plans that had been realized to
date, with the aim of fundamentally improving living conditions for the
city’s inhabitants over the long term. His design for the ideal city was a
strict grid of same-sized blocks measuring 133 x 133 metres each, with
equal amounts of green space and built-up area – envisaged as the
antithesis of the unsanitary and dense old city of Barcelona. However,
from the beginning, his project was met with resistance, and the new
Eixample (meaning expansion in Catalan) he planned was successively
densified. As a result, Eixample is now five times as dense as originally
intended. Nevertheless, we owe many things to Cerdà’s foresight, such
as the 20-metre-wide streets lined with trees, the continuous perim-
eter block development, and its characteristic chamfered corners,
where the street space opens up like a square. Such elements have led
to a fascinating urbanity oscillating between rule and exception. This
urban grid has proven remarkably adaptable over the past 160 years
and continues to serve as the basis for urban development.

042 COMMUNITY SPACES

 New urban mobility concept
In the face of the climate crisis and the need to meet the challenges
of vehicular traffic, in 2015, the urban ecologist Salvador Rueda intro-
duced the “superblock” urban mobility concept as a reinterpretation
of the Cerdà plan. The regular structure of the Eixample grid plays a
vital role, enabling the possibility to systematically introduce the su-
perblocks, which are made by grouping several urban blocks to form a
traffic-reduced zone. Within these zones, pedestrians have priority and
vehicle access is kept to a minimum, transferring much of the public
space to the residents. The goal is to reduce air pollution and noise pol-
lution, in addition to creating much-needed green space. The introduc-
tion of new orthogonal bus routes that align with the superblocks, as
well as dedicated bus lanes, encourages the use of the public transport
system. The expansion of bike rental offers and the bike path network
contribute to environmentally sustainable transport solutions for city
residents.

Superblocks in Poblenou and Sant Antoni

In 2016, a superblock pilot project was implemented in Poblenou as a
simple, reversible, and low-cost intervention seeking to achieve maxi-
mum effect in a short time. Within a week, students were working with
neighbourhood organizations to transform former traffic streets into
welcoming public spaces playfully and simply, using bright colours,
planters, and unpretentious street furniture. This approach is also
referred to as “tactical urbanism”, in which temporary changes are
introduced as needed and ultimately replaced by long-term urban
interventions following a successful trial run. Due to the rapid imple-
mentation and lack of communication by the city, the project met with
considerable resistance from residents, sparking a fundamental debate
that continues to this day. It revolves primarily around the question of
whether the city should be seen as a living space catering to the needs
of its residents or as a service provider dominated by private transport.
Consequently, the superblock created in the Sant Antoni neighbour-
hood in 2019 accompanied by an intensive public participation process.
From the outset, measures were no longer only carried out as revers-
ible interventions but also as permanent outdoor spatial design with
additional green areas. The project was implemented as part of the
redevelopment of the neighbourhood market of the same name, and
was well-received and intensively used by the local population from the
very beginning.
One criticism of the superblock concept, as it has been implement-
ed to date, is that it creates isolated areas with low permeability. In other

From ­Superblocks to Green Axes Lorenzo Kárász 043

 Superblocks include both permanent and mo-
bile urban furniture in Poblenou (above) and
044 COMMUNITY SPACES Sant Antoni (below), designed by Leku Studio.
 words, that the superblock is an upscale oasis with low traffic – which
causes vehicle traffic to increase in the streets around it. Some critics
also see this as a break with the urban continuity of Eixample and a
threat to the democratic, egalitarian values on which it was based.

Green axes
In response to the pilot projects, the concept is evolving to connect
individual superblocks by “green axes”. Currently, as the result of an in-
ternational competition from 2021, the street Consell de Cent and four
perpendicular streets are being transformed into green axes with four
new public squares at their intersections. The project, which involves
several planning teams, uses sponge city concepts to create numerous
green spaces with large surfaces for rainwater drainage and new rows
of trees where cars once drove.

Prospects for the future

The creation of interconnecting superblocks consisting of 2 x 2 city
blocks each will not only overcome the insular character of the pilot
projects but can also be understood as part of a new urban strategy
for Eixample as a whole: 21 green axes and 21 squares are planned there
for the coming years. The resulting transformation of 33 km of streets
will yield over 330,000 m2 of additional space for pedestrians, with
some 3.9 ha of space for play, sports, and leisure and 6.6 hectares of
added greenery – a profound transformation of the urban landscape,
achieved without demolishing a single building.
Today, delegations from all over the world travel to Barcelona to be
inspired by the superblocks and their connecting green axes. Similar
projects are popping up like mushrooms in many cities. Interestingly,
at the local level, the project is being observed with a very critical eye,
and its continuation is being questioned, while international views have
been consistently positive. What is certain is that we need to address
the challenges of climate change everywhere and develop strategies
to create green spaces and reduce emissions. Barcelona is again play-
ing a pioneering role in this respect and, thanks to the resilience and
flexibility of its urban structure, is demonstrating how dense cities can
be made more livable in the long term. My hope is that, in the future, my
children will enjoy this city as much as I do – and ideally, even more.

From ­Superblocks to Green Axes Lorenzo Kárász 045

 Client: Barcelona d’Infraestructures Carrer de Sant Iscle 50–54, Nou Barris
­Municipals, Institut Barcelona Esports,
Ajuntament de Barcelona
Structural design: Manel Fernández,
Ton Coll
Landscape architecture: Anna Zahenero,
Pepa Morán, Víctor Adorno
Completion: 2018
Area: 4,430 m2
Park: 3,952 m2
Use: Sports centre

3 Anna Noguera, Javier Fernandez

Dribbling and Swimming

Turó de la Peira
Sports ­Centre

Indoor sports and swimming stack up in this municipal sports centre:

the lower part of the building houses a public swimming pool, while
the floor above is a multipurpose hall for gymnastics, dance, and group
sports. The centre is frequented by children and teens in local sports
clubs or schools. Turó de la Peira, a neighbourhood on one of Barcelo-
na’s seven hills, is home to the city’s lowest-income residents. Green
spaces and public squares are scarce. Stacking the sports centre’s
uses left enough room for a public park, which is laid out in terraces to
overcome the site’s eight-metre change in elevation. Now it serves as a
green meeting place for neighbours of all ages.
There is also green on the sports centre facade facing the park.
A steel mesh supports climbing plants while allowing views of the 047
exterior access ramp, which leads from the street directly into the sports
court on the upper floor. The swimming pool below is half-buried, with a
dedicated entrance at the lower garden level. Barrier-free paths through
the terraced park connect it with the street level, where the main entrance
is located. Here, the building is characterized by its robust, exposed con-
crete base, with the facade of low-cost polycarbonate panels starting
above that. The facility integrates nicely into the row of buildings, barely
standing out among its neighbours. Side windows and skylights allow
almost complete natural lighting and natural ventilation. Sensors monitor
the indoor climate’s temperature, humidity, and CO2 content and open
and close the openings as needed, allowing the sports centre to operate
year-round without an additional air conditioning or ventilation system. Be-
sides the sustainable climate concept, sustainable construction materials
were used to build this Leed Platinum-certified facility. Supports, beams,
ceilings, and walls are made of Basque timber and were assembled in just
eight weeks.
The new sports centre has been a hit in the community and is well
visited every day of the week. Contributing to the project’s successes were
the three public presentations of the design organized by the city council,
followed by the engagement of the local community with the new project.
When residents learned that a low-cost surface was planned for the court
floor, they gathered at the district city hall to protest. Now the wooden
building also has a high-quality wooden floor for youth to play handball or
basketball on while others swim their laps on the level below. hw

048 COMMUNITY SPACES

Site plan Scale 1:10 000 A terraced green landscape is publically tation continues vertically, growing
accessible, and bridges the 8-metre along the curtain wall of the sports
height ­difference at the site. The vege- ­centre.

○
3 Turó de la Peira Sports Centre Anna Noguera, Javier Fernandez 049
050 COMMUNITY SPACES
 13

12

13

12

14

13

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Second floor

15

9 4 8 10

2 5
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9 11

8
Section, floor plans Scale 1:750 1 Swimming pool 5 Utility room 10 Sports hall 13 Access sports
entrance 6 Storage b ­entrance hall, public
2 Ticket counter 7 First aid 11 Access sports 1411Sports hall
3 Swimming pool 8 Changing area hall, internal 15 Stairs to school
4 Office 9 Void 12 Access
2 4 4b ­grandstand 5 6
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3 Turó de la Peira Sports Centre Anna Noguera, Javier Fernandez 051
052 COMMUNITY SPACES
○
3 Turó de la Peira Sports Centre Anna Noguera, Javier Fernandez 053
 Client: Fundació Kālida Carrer de Sant Antoni Maria Claret 167,
Structural design: Bernúz-Fernández Horta-Guinardó
Arquitectes 🌐 fundaciokalida.org
Interior design: Patricia Urquiola #fundació Kālida
Completion: 2019 @fundaciokalida
Area: 400 m2
Garden: 950 m2
Use: Cancer support centre

4 Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects

Built Blossoms
Kālida Sant Pau Cancer
Support Centre

The connection between architecture and nature at the Kālida cancer

support centre is not to be overlooked. Nestled in a meadow of flowers,
entwined with flowering climbers, and shaded by a mix of different trees,
the modest building is situated behind the modern hospital building of
Sant Pau. Its other neighbour is the historic Sant Pau hospital; the listed
Art Nouveau complex designed by the architect Domènech i Montaner
comprises eight pavilions in a park with medicinal herbs, in addition to
the cathedral-like main building, which was converted into a museum.
With their new building for the cancer care centre, EMBT Archi-
tects takes up the healing effect of plants on people, not only in the
form of a garden but also as floral building elements – a clear reference 055
to modernista architecture with its rich variety of materials, surfaces, and
colours. Its red brick facades, for example, are interspersed with white-
glazed stones representing abstract blossoms. Hollow triangular bricks
set into the curved walls form a lattice that provides shade and ventilation
to the interior. With its colourful tiled roof, the building evokes associations
with three unfolding petals. And the steel structure of the pergolas resem-
bles the veins of a leaf.
Kālida Sant Pau is part of the network of Maggie’s Centres, a British
foundation offering free support to cancer patients, their family members,
and caregivers. The architect Benedetta Tagliabue, who lost her partner
Enric Miralles to this disease, designed the building like a garden pavilion.
Boundaries between inside and outside blur; the built and the planted in-
tertwine. The sunken ground floor opens onto terraces and pathways. This
is a place of retreat and tranquillity, shielded by walls, pergolas, and lush
greenery.
The double-height dining area is at the heart of the ground floor
space, with a kitchen, a small library, several sitting areas, and multifunc-
tional rooms grouped around it. Surfaces flow into each other, even on the
upper floor. The only activities that occur behind closed doors are medical
and therapeutic consultations. The south facades facing the Art Nouveau
buildings are extensively glazed, with fixed wooden slats filtering the light
and providing discretion. Warm red flooring and wooden fixtures create a
pleasant atmosphere, as do the capped ceilings so typical of Barcelona.
Here, however, they are not built from small bricks but from larger prefab-
ricated arch elements. In this pleasant and peaceful environment, people
affected by cancer can receive practical, emotional, and social support.
Many of the patients come directly from the hospital’s oncology depart-
ment, just a stone’s throw from the Kālida centre, so that in times of need,
professional support is quickly at hand. hw

056 COMMUNITY SPACES

 Brickwork, curved forms, glazed tiles, the Modernisme period, when the histor-
and floral patterns clearly reference ic Sant Pau Hospital behind it was built.

Site plan Scale 1:5000

○
4 Kálida Sant Pau Cancer Support Centre EMBT Architects 057
058 COMMUNITY SPACES
 aa

Section, floor plan Scale 1:400 1 Entrance 4 Reading corner 6 Sitting area 8 Office /
2 Kitchen 5 Multipurpose 7 Consultations Meetings
3 Dining room room

5
8

First floor
a

5
2
3
4
a

Ground floor

○
4 Kálida Sant Pau Cancer Support Centre EMBT Architects 059
 Client: Barcelona d’Infraestructures Carrer d’Olzinelles 31, Sants-Monjuïc
­Municipals 🌐 lleialtat.cat
Structural design: DSM arquitectes #La Lleiltat Santsenca
Completion: 2017
Area: 2,500 m2
Use: Community centre

5 Harquitectes

Brick, Tile, Plasterboard

Lleialtat Santsenca
­Community Centre

Erected in 1928, the Lleialtat Santsenca community centre originally

served as the headquarters of a workers’ cooperative; later it was used
as a factory, then a discotheque. In 2006, the building was acquired
by the municipality and stood empty for six years. In 2012, the city re-
sponded to a community initiative calling for the revitalization of the
dilapidated building and launched a competition to repurpose it as a
community centre. The winners, Harquitectes, faced three main tasks:
to bring out the building’s historical value, preserve as much of the
original structure as possible, and address the needs of the neighbour-
hood cooperative. 061
Today 2,500 m2 of usable space are distributed over two sections: the
two-storey main building with the entrance, a café, and a large multipur-
pose hall; and the two- to four-storey rear section, which offers a variety
of different-sized rooms. The two structures are connected by an atrium
that provides the adjacent rooms with natural light. Slender footbridges
made of steel and wood provide access across the high space and serve
as places of encounter. The distinctive wall surfaces were left untouched.
The architects’ approach makes the building seem as if it were constantly
transforming, as if traces of the past were not merely preserved but signs
of gradual change. Brick walls from different phases in the building’s his-
tory alternate with layers of plaster, wall paintings, tiles, and remnants of
green plasterboard, bearing witness to the various uses over the decades.
As relics of the past, the original walls were cleaned, repaired where nec-
essary, or supplemented with untreated brick, resulting in a tapestry of
varied surfaces. The elements that were added as part of the renovation
are pragmatic, cost-effective, and sustainable. For example, only untreat-
ed pine wood was used for the interiors, and the roofs are mostly made
of polycarbonate panels. Solar collectors on the roof heat the building’s
water, while the toilets are flushed with rainwater.
The community centre has become a contact point for the neigh-
bourhood, offering space for local initiatives, from parties and meetings
to concerts and large events. For 5.45 euros an hour, music groups can
practice in a 30 m2 studio, while digital novices are introduced to the online
world in the computer lab. People of all ages come here for recreation, dia-
logue, and education – or simply to enjoy the atmosphere. The spaces are
full of life, and each visit strengthens the sense of community. The people
in the neighbourhood identify with the Lleialtat Santsenca – after all, they
helped to create it.

062 COMMUNITY SPACES

Site plan Scale 1:2500

○
5 Lleialtat Santsenca ­Community Centre Harquitectes 063
 Notable are the striking wall surfaces, transformation is ongoing throughout
which were left as found. This gives the building, as if the traces of time
the impression that the process of ­continue to evolve.

064 COMMUNITY SPACES

aa

bb First floor

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:500 1 Entrance 4 Atrium 7 Aula with stage
2 Multipurpose 5 Multifunctional 8 Games gallery
room space 9 Movement
3 Kitchen 6 Management room

2 1
5
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5 5

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○
5 Lleialtat Santsenca ­Community Centre Harquitectes 065
066 COMMUNITY SPACES
○
5 Lleialtat Santsenca ­Community Centre Harquitectes 067
068 COMMUNITY SPACES
Josep Ricart Ulldemolins of Harquitectes in conversation with Heide Wessely

History is
Part of the
Present

BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010 069

Catalan architects Harquitectes have made waves far beyond Barcelona with their
sensual combinations of found and natural building materials. Since 2000, they have
developed surprisingly experimental and efficient concepts for residential and com-
munity projects in their studio in Sabadell, about 20 km northeast of Barcelona. They
often draw on construction methods typical of the region and combine them with
technically innovative detailed solutions. Josep Ricart Ulldemolins (2nd from left),
who founded the practice together with David Lorente Ibáñez (right), Xavier Ros Majó
(left), and Roger Tudó Galí, explains their priorities in this process and how Barcelona’s
historical industrial buildings can be reused.

Do you have a favourite building Are infrastructure projects better

in Barcelona? suited for new uses?
The Dipòsit de les Aigües, which They are more adaptable and multi-
houses the central library of Pompeu functional – similar to factories.
Fabra University. Josep Fontseré Moreover, they have always been
designed the building in 1874 for the rebuilt, expanded, and repurposed.
first World’s Fair. It was originally a Old industrial buildings have larger
water tower for the artificial water- spans, which offers excellent poten-
fall at Parc de la Ciutadella. Fontseré tial for new uses; the floor plans of
was more of an engineer than an residential buildings are more rigid.
architect. He set the 3-metre-high Unfortunately, historic preservation
basin on 14-metre-high brick arches authorities do not distinguish be-
supporting a barrel vault – a classic tween those two types of building
Roman construction typology. The stock, treating all buildings worthy
reservoir was only used briefly before of protection the same.
being replaced by water pumps.
What is impressive about it, however, If so, why were many old industrial
is that it never became obsolescent: monuments demolished?
first, it was a water reservoir, then a Many old factories were built on
storage area, even the fire department inexpensive land, in swampy areas,
used it for a while, and there was a so the building fabric was in poor
time when you could row small boats condition. I’m not nostalgic when it
there. The building has always been comes to preserving old buildings.
in operation; today, it holds an amaz- With the Cristalleries Planell com-
ing library designed by Lluís Clotet munity centre, we were required to
and Ignacio Paricio. preserve the existing facade. We tried
to trace its history, a patchwork of
textures with many beautiful ele-

070 COMMUNITY SPACES

 ments but also cracks, damage, and for features and characteristics that
repairs. Wondering where they came reflect the building’s history. That has
from, we checked the archives. It to do with cultural identity but also
turned out that there were 60 appli- with remembering. Many people
cations over 50 years to remodel or from the neighbourhood still know
convert the building. The facade was the building from before. It was
never a representative element of the originally a workers’ cooperative.
factory – it was never completed. We Then it was a factory that produced
wanted to tell this story to passers-by turròn, a Spanish confection tradi-
and visitors to the community centre. tionally served at Christmas. The
The heritage conservation agency second floor was used as a disco and
an event hall for community events.
These various uses have left their
mark on the building, and we would
“The beauty of Barcelona is like to relate this story to other,
younger visitors.
that, in many places, history
is not just preserved but is a There is always a lot going on at
part of contemporary life.” Lleialtat Santsenca. What does a
building need to become such a
vibrant gathering place?
The architecture cooperative Lacol
played a central role in that regard.
was against the idea because they At that time – ten, twelve years ago,
assumed the facade should be re- they were still young activists. Even
stored and finished according to the today they continue to work very
historical model. But how was that closely with and for the local commu-
supposed to work? Three different nity. Lacol was involved in the com-
architects had worked on the original petition tender, and spoke with the
facade. After lengthy discussions, we neighbourhood groups – the later
reached a compromise: we only had users – about the activities they
to finish plastering parts of the facade would offer and what they intended
and were allowed to show the rest in to do with the new spaces. Accord-
its imperfection. ingly, we designed floor plans that
allow a lot of flexibility to accommo-
At the Lleialtat Santsenca com- date those activities.
munity centre you can see the
building’s history. What’s the idea The community centre is located
behind that? in a block development in Sants; it
We always consider whether the new does not stand alone. Did that
programme can be embedded in the urban context have an impact on
existing structure first. Then we look the design?

Josep Ricart Ulldemolins of Harquitectes in conversation with Heide Wessely 071

 platform decidim.barcelona, gives
We tried to bring the street into the
that impression. But I don’t think
building, and covered it with a trans-
that’s really the case. When I visited
parent roof so sunlight can reach the
Berlin in the mid-1990s there was a
darker areas deep inside. This covered
void became the central atrium, similar feel. Hair salons were repur-
which is airy, light, and bright andposed as libraries – anything was
can be seen from the outside. To do possible. Here in Barcelona, the most
this, we removed a minimum of walls significant changes have been set in
and columns to achieve maximum motion by major events: the Olympic
freedom for the spatial programme, Games, world’s fairs, and the Forum
lighting, and ventilation. The compe-
of Cultures. Now the city administra-
tition tender actually allowed for the
tion is also proposing major urban
building to be gutted because only redevelopment to the population. A
the facade is a listed monument. We newly designed square catches every-
were one of the few teams that want-one’s eye – it’s the easiest way to show
that something is happening in the
ed to preserve a significant amount of
the stock. city. At the same time, redesigning a
public square is much cheaper than
In Barcelona, citizens seem to building facilities for education or
have more say than in other cities. healthcare. Still, many of these new
Why? areas are well done, no question.
The current government, which There’s a reason why Barcelona’s
also introduced the online voting urban design is world-renowned.

Models play a central role in Harqui- ­ ompetition project for a multifunctional

c
tectes’ approach. Pictured here, the building with a library in Barcelona.
072 COMMUNITY SPACES four partners discuss their winning
 What does Barcelona need most years ago. It’s a kind of synchroniza-
urgently? tion. Pompei, for example, is the
There is a lack of affordable housing. exact opposite. The ancient buildings
That’s Barcelona’s biggest problem. there look so modern as if you could
Despite much talk about social and still live in them today – but you can’t
cooperative housing, those are only because their history is over.
small measures. Building on a small Here in Barcelona, people live in
plot of land cooperatively with edu- houses with columns from an ancient
cated, cultured people is great – but Roman temple. Barcelona connects
it doesn’t solve the broader problem. the past with the present; it has
Only a fraction of the housing be- always done so, and that is what
longs to the city; the majority is in makes the city so exciting and alive.
private hands, causing prices and
rents to skyrocket.
Besides, there are too many
tourists, and they are too concentrat-
ed in the Gothic Quarter and El
Raval. Together with Christ & Gan-
tenbein, we won the competition
there for the extension of Macba
(Museu d’Art Contemporani de
Barcelona). The city and the neigh-
bourhood are now negotiating how
to use the public space in front of
the museum.

What do you particularly like

about Barcelona? ○↪

The beauty of Barcelona is that, in ○

5 Lleialtat
 Santsenca
many places, history is not just ­ ommunity Centre
C
preserved but is a part of contempo- S. 060
rary life. For example, you can still ○
6 Cristalleries
 Planell
trace the course of the Roman or Community Centre
medieval city walls. We are currently S. 074
building a theatre and came across a ○
17 School
 906
piece of an ancient wall during S. 188
construction. Whenever you start ○
19 Autonomous
 Uni­
digging in the city, you discover ver­sity of Barcelona
remnants of history. That can pose Research Centre
challenges, but it is also something to S. 208
treasure. We still live with the mem- ○
29 57
 Student Dwellings
ory of events from 2000, 200, or 20 S. 310

Josep Ricart Ulldemolins of Harquitectes in conversation with Heide Wessely 073

 Client: Infraestructures Metropolitanes, Carrer del Dr. Ibáñez 38, Les Corts
Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona
Structural design: DSM arquitectes
Completion: 2016
Area: 1,694 m2
Use: Community centre

6 Harquitectes

Heritage Meets High-Tech

Cristalleries Planell
Community Centre

Even from a distance, the four silver towers jutting from the roof in-
dicate a technically sophisticated, energy-efficient building. They are
both the landmark of the Christalleries Planell community centre and a
reference to the building’s previous industrial use as a glassworks.
The prominent chimneys are just the tip of a clever passive
heating and cooling system that eliminates the need for conventional
air conditioning. This is achieved by the new red brick structure that
Harquitectes inserted inside the historical structure, which was built
according to designs by Josep Graner i Prat in 1913. On the southeast
side of the building, the new volume is set back two metres from the
old facade; on the opposite side, it forms an atrium with a triangular 075
base. Fresh air enters the building through an underground duct system
and then is drawn upward. From there, it flows into the rooms through
­tilted windows and finally escapes to the outdoors as exhaust air through
the solar chimneys. Both atriums are closed with glass roofs.
The community centre was originally intended as a three-level
building that would largely retain the cubature of the old factory. Only later
was a fourth floor added, distinguished by its lighter-coloured brickwork.
In order to draw more natural light into the white-painted interiors, the
architects had the old facades partially built up with glass brick – a clear
visual break from the brickwork but also a reference to the former glass
factory. Adult language courses in English, Spanish, and Catalan as well as
computer skills classes are taught in the bright, airy classrooms.

Harquitectes have managed to preserve an important relic of the neigh-

bourhood’s industrial history, uniting past and present in a compelling
landmark. The historical facade of natural stone and brick is preserved
as a ruin and supplemented with differently designed brick facades.
The Leed Gold certified community centre celebrates the heritage of
the industrial age while standing confidently in the here and now. hw

076 COMMUNITY SPACES

 In summer, hot air exits the building
through the distinctive solar chimneys.
They also serve as the symbol of the
community centre.

Site plan Scale 1:5000

○
6 Cristalleries Planell Community Centre Harquitectes 077
078 COMMUNITY SPACES
○
6 Cristalleries Planell Community Centre Harquitectes 079
Sections, floor plans Scale 1:500 1 Main entrance 4 Foyer 6 Office 9 Wind towers
2 Emergency exit 5 Classroom for 7 Void for cooling
3 Atrium adult education 8 Glass veranda 10 Transparent
ETFE foil roof

080 COMMUNITY
 SPACES
 7 10
7 10
9
6
9
6

5 9

5 9
7 10

7 10

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3 7
4 6
4 6

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6 Cristalleries Planell Community Centre Harquitectes 081
082 COMMUNITY SPACES
The traces of history are most evident
on the entrance facade. Bricks from
­different eras come together like a
patchwork.

○
6 Cristalleries Planell Community Centre Harquitectes 083
 Client: Barcelona d’Infraestructures Plaça de Sants, Carrer de la Riera
­Municipal, Administrador de Infraestruc- ­Blanca, Sants-Monjuïc
turas Ferroviarias, Infraestructures de la
Generalitat de Catalunya
Structural design: Esteyco
Landscape design: Joan Pinyol
Completion: 2016
Area: 48,400 m2
Use: Infrastructure, park

7 Sergi Godia, Ana Molino

Floating Gardens
Rambla in Sants

The elevated gardens of Sants – Jardins de la Rambla de Sants – are a

prime example of how ordinary citizens can help improve their city. For
decades, railroad tracks divided the densely populated neighbourhood
of Sants into two parts, with trains on eight parallel tracks rattling by
the residential buildings. The resulting noise and air pollution caused
both structural and social damage to the area. In 2000, a neighbour-
hood initiative rallied to combat the situation. After two years of pro-
tests and talks with the railway operators, the city government finally
agreed to undertake a significant infrastructure project to address the
problems. At first, initiative’s goal was to eliminate the rail line altogeth-
er, a solution that proved technically and economically unfeasible. As 085
a compromise, only one track was moved underground, while two were
enclosed. An 800-m landscaped walkway was created on the roof of the
enclosure, with the option of extending it to the city outskirts for a 5 km
green corridor.
The pedestrian boulevard is supported by large prefabricated con-
crete trusses lined with glass, which enables people to see the trains while
significantly dampening the noise. Colourful planted embankments inter-
rupt the concrete and glass structure at three spots along the promenade.
They merge with the rooftop garden and provide ramps that overcome the
height difference between the street and the green walkway.
Here on the Rambla de Sants, people can be found enjoying a book
on the park benches, exercising on the outdoor gym equipment, watching
their children play, or simply strolling along the promenade. Zones with soft
rubberized flooring crisscross the boulevard, alternating with pale green
surfaces. Shade canopies provide relief from the hot sun, while sculptural,
pre-patinated street lanterns contribute to a sense of safety in the evening.
Running down the middle of the elevated park is a line of trees,
shrubs, and low-growing plants, which merge into grassy lawns. Inter-
mittent ventilation towers rise from the train tunnel below, doubling as a
display of archival photographs from the days when the trains ran above
ground. The gardens are raised 4 to 12 metres above street level, creating a
viewing platform with a panorama. A small seating tribune overlooking the
trains and railroad tracks is at one end of the Rambla de Sants.
A neighbourhood committee accompanied the implementation of
this urban intervention, which took 11 years. Its lengthy duration was not
only because of the complexity of the construction work required while
rail operations continued unhindered, but also because of the many actors
involved; three administrative bodies were responsible for implementing
the infrastructure project: the Spanish state, the Catalonia region, and the
city of Barcelona.
Although the local community benefits greatly from the new green
spaces, problems remain, with vandalism stemming from the previous
situation of urban decay and the social marginalization that accompanied
it. But the hope remains that this urban renewal project will hasten the
rehabilitation of the neighbourhood. hw

086 COMMUNITY SPACES

○
7 Rambla in Sants Sergi Godia, Ana Molino 087
 a

Site plan Scale 1:4000

Where express and regional trains once is located on the roof of the enclosure,
rattled through the neighbourhood of which shields the ­community from rail-
Sants, there is now a leafy, 800-metre-­ way traffic sights, sounds, and smells.
088 COMMUNITY SPACES long promenade. The Rambla de Sants
 b c

b c

○
7 Rambla in Sants Sergi Godia, Ana Molino 089
 2
3

aa

2 2
3 3

bb cc

Sections Scale 1:750 1 High-speed 2 National trains

trains 3 Subway

090 COMMUNITY SPACES

The photovoltaic cells on the roof not
only produce electricity but also provide
ample shade.

○
7 Rambla in Sants Sergi Godia, Ana Molino 091
092 COMMUNITY SPACES
○
7 Rambla in Sants Sergi Godia, Ana Molino 093
 Client: Ajuntament de Barcelona Plaça d’Albert Badia i Mur, Sant Andreu
Structural design: BAC Engineering 🌐 ajuntament.barcelona.cat/
­Consultancy Group campdelferro
Completion: 2020
Area: 7,237 m2
Use: Sports centre

AIA Activitats Arquitectòniques, Barceló Balanzó

8 Arquitectes, Gustau Gili Galfetti

Breezy Brick Skin

Camp del Ferro
Sports Centre

Situated in the northern district of Sant Andreu, near the new ­Sagrera
railway station, the Camp del Ferro sports centre is surrounded by
recently completed apartment buildings where old factories and ware-
houses once stood. Its next-door neighbours include the Llotja School
of Art and Design, recently installed in one of the few factory buildings
that have been maintained, as well as an older sports centre dating
from the Olympic period, a part of which this new facility has replaced.
Sport has been an important part of life in Barcelona ever since the city
hosted the 1992 Olympic games. Not unlike its network of neighbour-
hood libraries, municipal sports centres can be found throughout the
city, each specializing in different types of physical activity. 095
In a densely inhabited city such as Barcelona, where public space is ­precious,
it is not untypical for large public buildings to be partially submerged to
lessen their visual impact on the urban landscape. Camp del Ferro consists
essentially of three big halls for indoor sports, such as basketball, roller
hockey, and gymnastics, along with the requisite offices, changing rooms,
and bleachers. Two of the sports halls are located in the semi-underground
plinth, which supports a third, smaller gym above it, forming an L-shaped
section with the entrance at mid-height. This design strategy creates a
generous public plaza on the roof of the plinth. The entrance level is glazed
along the entire edge of the plaza, putting interior activity on public display
while articulating the joint between the plinth and the building.
The impact of what remains of the building mass is further lessened
by the intricately designed architecture of the building envelope. Crowning
the building is a sawtooth roof consisting of four inverted vaults, expressed
outwardly by wave-shaped cornices. A dynamic facade emerges from the
different types and colours of bricks arranged in various patterns and de-
grees of opacity according to their orientation to the sun. Brick louvres on
the south-facing facade protect the interior from direct sunlight and glare,
while brick latticework shades some of the windows and the double-height
entranceways below cantilevered building corners. With its playful brick
facades and sawtooth roof, Camp del Ferro undoubtedly pays homage to
Barcelona’s 19th-century industrial past as well as the expressive modern-
ista architecture to which it gave rise – Lluís Domènech i Montaner would
be very proud indeed. rgm

096 COMMUNITY SPACES

Site plan Scale 1:8000

○
8 Camp del Ferro Sports Centre AIA Activitats Arquitectòniques, Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes, Gustau Gili Galfetti 097
Section, floor plan Scale 1:750 1 Hockey and 2 Locker/dressing 4 Forecourt/out- 7 PAV3 Sports
skating, ball rooms door playground Court (triple
sports for 491 3 Skating sports 5 Entrance court)
spectators for 123 specta- 6 Food/social 8 Utility room
tors area 9 Activity room
10 Void

aa

098 COMMUNITY SPACES

 7 9

8 10

Upper floor

a a
6 4
7

Ground floor

1 2 3

Base floor

○
8 Camp del Ferro Sports Centre AIA Activitats Arquitectòniques, Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes, Gustau Gili Galfetti 099
 The facade’s differentiated design ported by the curved roof, where sky-
makes the large building volume appear lights also have the invisible function of
100 COMMUNITY SPACES less overwhelming. This effect is sup- providing natural ventilation.
○
8 Camp del Ferro Sports Centre AIA Activitats Arquitectòniques, Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes, Gustau Gili Galfetti 101
102 COMMUNITY SPACES
Post-­
Olympic
Trans­
formation
Rafael Gómez-Moriana

BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010 103

Barcelona has a remarkable history of staging global events. The 1888 and 1929
World’s Fairs, the 1992 Olympic Games, and the 2004 Forum of Cultures have not only
brought the city international renown but have also served as pretexts to transform
the city bit by bit. The Olympics was the most ambitious, involving the refurbish-
ment of no less than four urban areas – a success story that led to the coining of a
­“Barcelona model” of urban transformation, and the awarding of a RIBA Gold Medal in
1999 to a city rather than an architect. But is this model still relevant today?

In the late 1970s, when Barcelona first considered making a bid for the
1992 Summer Olympics, Spain was still recovering from the Franco dic-
tatorship, a period of uncontrolled urban growth and little attention paid
to public services and infrastructure. Hosting the most global event of
all, it was hoped, would provide the necessary impulse to modernize and
transform the city. Architect Oriol Bohigas, the urbanism coordinator un-
der Narcís Serra, Barcelona’s first socialist mayor since the restoration of
democracy, launched a programme of public space improvements that
set out to “clean up the centre and monumentalize the periphery”, digni-
fying bland 1960s and ‘70s housing developments with urban design and
public art while restoring a historical core that had fallen prey to social
problems associated with drugs and unemployment. Bohigas’s highly
localized approach, which he termed “urban projects”, involved surgical
interventions that were respectful of the diverse typo-morphological
realities of the city. These reconstruction projects, carried out on a shoe-
string by a cash-strapped city council, incorporated the rejuvenation of
run-down public squares with the construction of new neighbourhood fa-
cilities such as schools and libraries. In many cases, these public spaces
were often (re)built in the form of decks covering new or existing trans-
portation infrastructure, resulting in plazas duras, or hard squares, that
generated much criticism among citizens. Another critic of Barcelona’s
pre-Olympic transformation was none other than Rem Koolhaas, who
wrote in his 1995 essay “The Generic City”: “Sometimes an old, singular
city, like Barcelona, by oversimplifying its identity, turns Generic. It be-
comes transparent, like a logo.” The criticism continues in his “Junkspace”
essay of 2001: “Through Junkspace old aura is transfused with new lustre
to spawn sudden commercial viability: Barcelona amalgamated with the
Olympics.”
After being awarded the Olympic Games in 1986, Barcelona’s ur-
ban plans grew in scale and urgency. In 1987, architect Joan Busquets,
in charge of urban planning for the Barcelona city council, developed a
plan identifying 12 strategic “areas of new centrality” to be reconstruct-
ed throughout the periphery. Four of these would be sites for Olympic

104 COMMUNITY SPACES

 venues connected by a new sunken beltway, the Ronda. The Olympic
Port and Athletes’ Village, the largest of the four venues, was planned for
a waterfront industrial site whose factories, rail tracks, and shantytowns
had made the city’s beaches inaccessible. The much-publicized intention
to “open the city to the sea” can be credited with building citizen con-
sensus overwhelmingly in favour of hosting the Olympics, with volunteers
signing up in unprecedented numbers.

The artificial beach is over 4 km long area was cluttered with factories,
and is one of the city’s major attractions. ­railroad tracks, and shantytowns.
Before its Olympic transformation, the 105
 Forum 2004: invention of a global event
The resounding success of Barcelona ‘92 changed everything. After
a brief economic downturn, new projects were drawn up involving
greater proportions of private investment. These included the Zona
Franca logistics area between the seaport and the airport, the 22@
plan to convert an obsolete industrial area into a knowledge district,
and yet another global event – one invented by the Barcelona city
council of socialist mayor Joan Clos – to be inaugurated in 2004 on the
last remaining waterfront industrial site. The 2004 Universal Forum of

Crowds during the 2004 Universal building by Herzog & de Meuron was
­Forum of Cultures fill a plaza that built as the centerpiece of this interna-
106 COMMUNITY SPACES sits mostly empty today. The striking tional event.
 Cultures, as this new event was named, aimed to replicate the success
of the Olympic transformation under the slogan “peace, sustainability,
and diversity”. The Forum was built at the end of one of Barcelona’s
main avenues, the Diagonal, which was extended to the sea as part of
a much broader reconstruction effort under the coordination of chief
municipal architect Josep Acebillo. A large exhibition and auditorium
facility by Herzog & de Meuron, together with a vast waterfront plaza,
was built atop an existing, functioning water purification plant. Adja-
cent projects included a convention centre by Josep Lluís Mateo, a new
yachting port, a hotel by Oscar Tusquets, and a park by Foreign Office
Architects. Nearby, the Hines corporation of Texas was building Diago-
nal Mar, a private development containing a US-style indoor shopping
mall by Robert A. M. Stern as well as luxurious residential view towers
set in a public park designed by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue
– EMBT Architects.
Despite the noble rhetoric, or perhaps because of it, Forum 2004
was perceived by some as a veiled operation to attract global tourism
and real estate investment. With its freestanding objects in a sprawling
landscape, the global urbanism of the Forum area is a direct inversion
of the historical Mediterranean figure-ground relationship. Critic Josep
María Montaner described it as “a neoliberal urbanism comprising large
independent objects with no relation to the urban fabric.” Major proj-
ects from the Forum era include EMBT Architects’ sculptural corporate
headquarters for a gas utility, featuring a wing cantilevering 30 metres;
an iconic water utility office tower by Jean Nouvel whose rounded forms
pay homage to Antoni Gaudí; an immense trade fair complex by Toyo
Ito characterized by a pair of idiosyncratic twin towers; and an all-glass
waterfront luxury hotel by Ricardo Bofill intended to resemble a sail (but
often likened to Burj Al Arab off the coast of Dubai).

2008 economic crisis: the party ends

The tendency to build ever-larger public-private projects in the form
of sculptural freestanding objects culminated in the mid-2000s with a
proposal for an 80,000 m2 skyscraper complex by Frank Gehry for which
no competition was held. Intended for a site adjacent to a planned
high-speed train station at La Sagrera, Gehry’s project became an early
victim of the economic crisis that hit Spain in 2008. The crisis changed
everything again, with expensive starchitecture falling out of favour.
Meanwhile, an emerging younger generation of architects, disaffected
by post-Olympic Barcelona’s growing privatization and gentritouristifi-
cation, were becoming activists for affordable housing and the right to
the city.

Post-­Olympic Trans­formation Rafael Gómez-Moriana 107

 In 2011, at the height of the economic crisis, Barcelona’s first conserva-
tive mayor was elected, Xavier Trias. His new deputy mayor in charge of
urbanism, Antoni Vives, embarked on a Smart City agenda while taking
over one of the biggest post-Olympic projects underway at the time:
the redevelopment of the Plaça de les Glòries traffic interchange into a
large urban park with an underground traffic tunnel beneath it. Eventually
sentenced to prison for corruption on an unrelated matter, Antoni Vives
is now Head of Urban Development on Saudi Arabia’s controversial The
Line project.

The 1992 Olympics represented the high point of

­Barcelona’s urban reconstruction. Subsequent global
events tried to repeat this success.

Anti-globalism: the housing turn

Following the mayoral election only four years later of a leftist citizens’
platform led by housing activist Ada Colau, urban policies took a turn
once again, this time toward alternative affordable housing models, the
adaptive reuse of buildings, the attrition of motor traffic from streets, and
the greening of the city. Projects initiated at this time include the housing
cooperative La Borda (p. 244), an urban infill by the Lacol architecture
cooperative with a 75-year public land leasehold agreement that has be-
come a poster child for bottom-up approaches to solving the city’s hous-
ing shortage; 85 VPO by Peris + Toral (p. 302), a social housing block in
the periphery whose flexible dwellings are based on a rigid modular grid;
and the APROP prototype by Straddle3, Eulia Arkitektura, and Yaiza Terré
(p. 230), a low-cost prefab housing infill built of used shipping containers
for evicted and homeless persons in Barcelona’s historical centre. In 2016,
urban ecologist Salvador Rueda’s plan to convert Ildefons Cerdà’s 1859
Eixample urban grid into superblocks began to be implemented through
a tactical pilot project in Poblenou (p. 40). Superblocks aim to reduce air
pollution by converting up to 120 of the grid’s trademark chamfered inter-
sections into public squares and gardens, representing one of the most
ambitious urban transformations ever undertaken by the city.
The 1992 Olympics represented the high point of Barcelona’s ur-
ban reconstruction. Subsequent global events, such as the 2004 Forum
of Cultures, tried to repeat the success of the Olympic transformation,
but many of Barcelona’s citizens were no longer so sure that what the
city needed was more tourism and global real estate investment driving

108 COMMUNITY SPACES

 up the cost of housing. A recent effort on the part of Catalan politicians
to place a bid for a Pyrenees Winter Olympics – a perfect pretext for ex-
panding Barcelona’s airport – was met with little public enthusiasm and
plenty of political squabbling, falling apart before it could be submitted.
Global events are no longer what they used to be.
It would seem that the Olympic “Barcelona model” of finely scaled
“urban projects” intended to transform neighbourhoods underwent its
own post-Olympic transformation, increasingly resembling the Asian
model of stand-apart megaprojects. After the economic crisis that began
in 2008, attention finally began to turn toward much-needed housing – a
programme long sidelined by the city’s focus on global events and tour-
ism – as well as urban ecology in the face of a climate crisis exacerbated
precisely by globalization.
The most recent urban-architectural initiatives clearly demon-
strate a return to the more empirical neighbourhood-based urbanism of
the pre-Olympic period. The Barcelona model has seemingly gone full
circle.

The Olympic Village with the Olympic Port Olympics. The two towers were designed by
is one of four “areas of new centrality” Iñigo Ortiz and Enrique de León, and SOM
that were redeveloped for the 1992 with Bruce Graham. 109
 Client: Barcelona d’Infraestructures Via Favència 399, Sant Andreu
­Municipals
Structural engineering: BAC Engineering
Completion: 2021
Area: 2,300 m2
Use: Community centre, advisory
­services, music practice room

9 haz arquitectura

The Wooden Thing

Porta Trinitat
Community Centre

The Porta Trinitat community centre already had nicknames before it

even opened: “The sauna” or “the wooden thing” is what locals call the
building, which is entirely clad in larch wood. Timber facades are rare
in Spain; fear of fire and the scorching heat in summer, which causes
rapid wear and tear, do not give wood a high ranking on the material
scale. But this is gradually changing as the discussion on resource-sav-
ing, sustainable construction transforms the urban landscape. The city
council therefore went along with the gamble of building the commu-
nity centre on the northern edge of Barcelona almost entirely out of 111
wood. Only a few of the load-bearing components are made of steel due
to the wide spans of some rooms, like the foyer. The ample space can be
used to host celebrations and exhibitions, with wining and dining at the
café bar. Inexpensive hollow concrete bricks tilted at 90 degrees filter the
light on the ground floor. In summer, they provide sun protection, while in
winter, when the sun is low, they conjure up countless points of light in the
interiors. That’s not the only spectacle in the building: local creatives can
stage plays and dance performances in the adjacent auditorium. The mul-
tipurpose space includes a stage that can be dismantled and curtains that
can be drawn to reduce and expand the room or serve as part of the set or
as a theatre curtain. Roller blinds in front of the windows can darken the
hall if necessary. The hall extends outdoors, where the adjacent courtyard
is framed by a massive retaining wall that doubles as a projection screen
for movie nights.
The upper floors contain social facilities, including a help centre for
women, which provides strictly regulated access and opaque glass panes
to protect them from potential harm. The rest of the building, on the other
hand, is open and transparent. It includes advisory services for financial
issues, co-working spaces and meeting rooms anyone can rent at low cost
or even use for free. The same applies to two music practice rooms and the
multipurpose rooms on the third floor, which are grouped around two pati-
os that not only bring light into the building but also fresh air. Underground
pipes draw fresh air into the covered atriums, which serve as large air ducts.
The cool air, around 17 to 18 °C, enters the rooms through gill-like openings
in the ceilings. On particularly scorching days – when the sun heats up the
building despite the wooden shades in front of the windows – does the air
conditioning have to be switched on; this is mandatory in Spain for public
buildings. Low energy consumption is also ensured by the photovoltaic
panels on the roof, which supply 77,700 kWh of electricity annually. Any
excess production is fed into the power grid and remunerated. Employees
are encouraged to be energy conscious at work; charging personal devices
on the premises is prohibited. hw

112 COMMUNITY SPACES

Site plan Scale 1:5000

○
9 Porta Trinitat Community Centre haz arquitectura 113
 16 15 14

7 7
15

15 18 17
13
13

12 4

12 7 7

At the Porta Trinitat community centre, winter, they conjure up countless points
the outer facade’s hollow blocks provide of light on the floor of the foyer, which is
shade against the high summer sun. In also used for events. 10 11

6 5
4

a a
4
8 7 7

2
4 9 4
1

b
Ground floor

114 COMMUNITY SPACES

aa bb

Section, floor plans Scale 1:400 1 Entrance 6 Cloakroom 11 Women’s help 15 Workshop
2 Foyer with bar 7 Atrium/fresh air centre 16 Conference
3 Information 8 Auditorium 12 Advisory service room
4 Storage 9 Control booth 13 Music practice
5 Management 10 Waiting area 14 Utility room

16 15 14

7 7
15

15 18 17
13
13

Third floor

12 4

12 7 7

10 11

First floor
b

○
9 Porta Trinitat Community Centre haz arquitectura 115

6 5
 Client: Mercabarna Carretera antigua de Valencia 1, Sant Boi
Structural design: Area 5 de Llobregat
Completion: 2009 🌐 mercabarnaflor.com
Area: 15,000 m2
Use: Flower market

10 WMA – Willy Müller Architects

Rooftop Rainbow
Mercabarna Flor
Flower Market

Located along a highway serving Barcelona’s airport, Mercabarna

Flor is a wholesale plant and flower market that is distinguished by a
folded, highly sculptural roof featuring a colourfully ornamented fascia.
The market, a sprawling industrial warehouse that replaces a previous
one destroyed by fire in 2001, contains three different climactic zones
under one roof: a cool zone for the display and sale of cut flowers, a
greenhouse for potted plants at the opposite end, and an area for dried
flowers and florists’ accessories situated in-between. The warehouse
also contains 240 linear metres of truck loading bays situated adjacent
to the cut flower zone to facilitate the rapid turnover required of this 117
highly perishable product. An upper storey situated over the cool zone
contains offices as well as a cafeteria overlooking the market interior along
with a balcony facing out of the back of the building toward an agricultural
landscape.
The roof, which is folded and angled down in places to meet the flat
ground plane of an asphalt parking lot, was conceived as a robust shell
protecting the fragile and dynamic content beneath, not unlike the body of
a turtle. The roof is folded up to create openings in the building at vehicu-
lar and pedestrian points of entry and exit. The more visible, angled parts
of the roof, which is effectively an angled wall, are clad in standing seam
sheet metal (zinc) of varying shades of grey and in lively patterns that recall
agricultural land use patterns of the surrounding Llobregat River delta. The
fascia of the roof, by contrast, is finished with vertical metal fins painted in
22 different colours, creating an insignia or logo for the building that subtly
references the goods available inside. The fins have a prow-shaped profile
that maximizes their visibility and chromatic intensity when driving past
the market on the highway, providing a moment of delight in an otherwise
desolate commercial landscape. The less visible flat part of the roof, about
12,000 m2, is designed to capture rainwater used for plant irrigation and is
supported by a structural system comprising large-span steel trusses with
steel and precast concrete columns.
Because the potted plant zone requires temperatures between 15
and 26 °C, whereas the cut flower stalls must be refrigerated to tempera-
tures of 2 to 15 °C, a radiant heating and evaporative cooling system is built
into the concrete ground floor slab to maintain adequate temperature and
humidity levels in this building of contrasting climates and colours. rgm

118 COMMUNITY SPACES

Site plan Scale 1:7000

○
10 Mercabarna Flor ­Flower Market WMA – Willy Müller Architects 119
120 COMMUNITY SPACES
aa cc

bb dd

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:2000 1 Entrance 5 Dried flowers, 8 Florist school 13 Florist
2 Tickets plant supplies, 9 Food area ­association
3 Loading zone accessories 10 Directorate 14 Multipurpose
4 Cut flowers 6 Potted plants 11 Meeting room room
7 Logistics 12 Wholesale
­association

7
5
8

10 11 12 13

9 14
Mezzazine

a b

4 5
6
d
d
5
4

c 1
3 c
2

Ground floor
a b

○
10 Mercabarna Flor ­Flower Market WMA – Willy Müller Architects 121
 ▼
19
●
▼
17
●

16
●

18
●
●15

14
●
13
●

11
●
● 12

●20

Images © TerraMetrics, map data © 2023 GeoBasis-DE/BKG (© 2009), Google

Culture and
Education

 ○ 11 Sala Beckett Theatre Flores & Prats Arquitectes 132

 ○12 Oliva Artés Museum BAAS Arquitectura 140
 ○13 Montbau-Albert Pérez Baró Library Oliveras Boix Arquitectes 148
Essay ­Industrial Heritage as an O­ pportunity Heide Wessely 156
 ○14 EMAV
 School for Audiovisual Media JAAS 166
 ○15 Montserrat
 Abelló Library Ricard Mercadé / Aurora Fernández 174
arquitectes
 ○16 French Preschool b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos 182
 ○ 17 School 906 Harquitectes 188
Interview Anna Ramos: European Perspectives 196
 ○18 Bressol Xiroi Daycare Centre Espinet / Ubach 202
 ○19 Autonomous
 University of Barcelona Research Centre 208
­Harquitectes, dataAE
 ○20 La Mar Bella Primary School SUMO Arquitectes 216
 RCR Arquitectes revitalized an inner The factory chimney was left standing
courtyard in Eixample with a district as a reminder of the property’s former
124 CULTURE AND EDUCATION ­library and attached retirement home. industrial use.
Sant Antoni–Joan Oliver Library RCR Arquitectes 125
 The Dipòsit de les Aigües has housed ­water tower for the first World’s Fair in
the university library since 1999. Josep 1874. It provided water to an artificial
126 CULTURE AND EDUCATION Fontseré designed the building as a waterfall in Ciutadella Park.
Library at Pompeu Fabra University Llus Clotet, Ignacio Paricio 127
 The Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies Today, the architectural icon serves as
van der Rohe and Lilly Reich is a suc- an exhibition space for the Fondació
128 CULTURE
 AND EDUCATION cessful reconstruction from the 1980s. Mies van der Rohe.
Barcelona Pavilion Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich 129
 First a textile factory, then a police ­museum and event venue. CaixaBank
­station – now Josep Puig i Cadafalch’s had it converted into the CaixaForum
130 CULTURE AND EDUCATION modernista building from 1913 is a in 2002.
CaixaForum Arata Isozaki 131
 Client: Institut de Cultura de Barcelona, Carrer de Pere IV 228, Sant Martí
Fundació Sala Beckett 🌐 salabeckett.cat
Structural design: Manuel Arguijo y @salabeckett
­Asociados #salabeckett
Completion: 2017
Area: 2,923 m2
Use: Restaurant, theatre hall (200 seats),
black box theatre (120 seats), vocational
training

11 Flores & Prats Arquitectes

All Eras are Equal

Sala Beckett Theatre

Sala Beckett is more than a performance hall; it is a comprehensive

cultural and educational centre. Its name was inspired by the famous
Irish writer Samuel Beckett, pictured in large-format photographs
around the building. The corner building in the former industrial neigh-
bourhood of Poblenou was built in 1924 to serve the working class. It
comprised a grocery store, a community room for parties or playing
cards, and later a dance hall and a small theatre. In 1935, the building
was remodelled, and a school was added in the back. In the 1980s, the
building was vacated until a supermarket and a sauna settled into it in
the 1990s. Their stay was shortlived, however, and the building stood
empty again, its roof leaking and its walls damaged by the rain. With
their intervention, Flores & Prats preserved the traces of the various
chapters of the building’s colourful history, sometimes relocating 133
them. After making an inventory of every component worth keeping, every
tile, every door, their search began: Where would which elements fit best?
What should replace the missing parts?
The interplay of old and new can be found in countless places
throughout the building. For example, the tile floor was moved from the
upper floor to the foyer and adjacent restaurant. Though they no longer
match everywhere, their new arrangement creates new patterns in some
places. Supplementing the old doors with their slender muntins are similar,
though not identical, new doors. Salvaged stucco rosettes now adorn the
wall in the foyer rather than the ceilings. The architects played with the
relics from different eras, recombining them and experimenting – a way of
working that also suits theatre people; here, they can develop new ideas
and draw inspiration from the stories the building tells without prioritizing
any particular era. The brown wall surfaces from the Franco period remain
visible, as with the stucco, which is a few decades older. Only the black
box theatre on the ground floor has been completely redesigned. For max-
imum artistic freedom, there is no stage, and the seating is flexible. This
set-up also applies to the experimental theatre on the second floor and
the rehearsal room, which is naturally lit with tall sliding windows, as are
all the rooms in the building that are not used for performances. The old
classrooms are still used as such: young talents learn playwriting in the
smaller rooms and directing in the larger ones.
During the planning phase, the budget was reduced from 8 million
to 2.5 million euros. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to harm the project – the
theatre is well visited, as is the restaurant on the ground floor – a place
where theatre aficionados and local regulars can meet and exchange true
and fictional stories about Sala Beckett. hw

134 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Site plan Scale 1:5000

○
11 Sala Beckett Theatre Flores & Prats Arquitectes 135
The old staircase at Sala Beckett is now of the Arts and Crafts movement – one
just a pattern on the wall. The new stairs of the many elements that connect the
feature a sculptural railing reminiscent past and the present.

136 CULTURE
 AND EDUCATION
 aa bb

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:500 1 Entrance 6 Management 9 Dramaturgy

2 Foyer 7 Auditorium workshop
3 Restaurant 8 Rehearsal 10 Playwriting
4 Black box space workshop
5 Dressing room 11 Courtyard

10
9 9

4 10

11

8
3

b 6 b
1

Ground floor First floor

○
11 Sala Beckett Theatre Flores & Prats Arquitectes 137
 A skylight diffuses daylight onto the The artists’ dressing room on the
staircase. Surfaces from different eras ground floor also receives daylight
138 CULTURE
 AND EDUCATION are connected by the play of sunlight. from the ­windows above.
○
11 Sala Beckett Theatre Flores & Prats Arquitectes 139
 Client: Barcelona d’Infrastructures Mu- Carrer de Espronceda 142–146,
nicipal, Museu d’História de Barcelona Sant Martí
Structural design: BIS Structures 🌐 barcelona.cat/museuhistoria/en/
Completion: 2020 muhba-oliva-artes
Area: 2,456 m2 #museuhistoriabarcelona
Use: Museum

12 BAAS Arquitectura

Grit and Glam

Oliva Artés Museum

There is no mistaking old from new in this adaptive reuse project by

Baas Arquitectura for the Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA) at Oliva
Artés. The original building, a run-down, hundred-year-old brick and
iron shed, appears almost unchanged for the most part. By contrast,
the architects’ intervention upon both the interior and exterior of the
shed consists of the addition of a series of abstract sculptural forms
crafted from steel plate finished with a golden hue. The result resem-
bles a minimalist art installation, one for which the weathered texture
of the industrial shed serves as a character foil at the same time that
its artfulness elevates the shed to the status of a museum. 141
In reality, Baas’s “sculptures” are functional architectural elements. The
rising beam at the back of the building takes up the fire escape; the two
spirals inside the museum turn out to be staircases; and an abstract box
frame at the front forms a generous entrance porch that shape-shifts
into a lateral lift tower. This piece-by-piece design strategy permitted the
renovation project to be realized more economically in phases, with the
remaining third and final phase consisting of new windows for the shed.
The intervention illustrates how our reception of art depends al-
most entirely on context, especially when it comes to minimalist art and its
post-industrial display paradigm. Baas’s front porch and tower function as
architectural cyphers, not only as a three-dimensional museum logo but
also as a sign of the times – which is all the more interesting for a history
museum. It encapsulates both Barcelona’s grimy industrial period, when
it was known as the Manchester of the South, and its post-industrial con-
temporaneity as a design and leisure tourist destination. The razor-sharp
contrast between the rough industrial halls and the gilded decorative art
mirrors Barcelona’s yin-yang unity of grit and glam. rgm

142 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Site plan Scale 1:8000

The 100-year-old factory remained

­almost unchanged during its transfor-
mation into an art museum.

○
12 Oliva Artés Museum BAAS Arquitectura 143
144 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
aa bb

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:750 1 Entrance 3 Exhibition

2 Café 4 Void

4 4

First floor

GSPublisherVersion 0.98.100.98

b b

1 3

a
GSPublisherVersion 0.98.100.98
Ground floor

○
12 Oliva Artés Museum BAAS Arquitectura 145
146 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
○
12 Oliva Artés Museum BAAS Arquitectura 147
 Client: Barcelona d’Infraestructures Carrer de l’Arquitectura 8, Montbau
­Municipals 🌐 Ajuntament.barcelona.cat/
Structural design: biblioteques/bibmontbau
Boma, Anabel Lázaro #bibmontbau
Completion: 2015
Area: 842 m2
Garden: 609 m2
Use: Library

13 Oliveras Boix Arquitectes

Reading between City

and Nature
Montbau-Albert Pérez Baró
Library

The Albert Pérez Baró Library forms part of Barcelona’s Montbau neigh-
bourhood, an ambitious public housing project inspired by Berlin’s Inter-
bau ‘57 building exhibition that is situated where the city’s uppermost
limit meets the Serra de Collserola Natural Park. Originally built in 1958
as a primary school in the form of three identical freestanding pavilions
with a pair of courtyard gardens in-between, the latest remodelling of
this public neighbourhood library is actually the third time the building
has been altered and added to.
It was first transformed into a community library by a neighbour-
hood association in 1980, when the school relocated and left the build-
ing empty; and then again in 1990, when the library became an official 149
branch of Barcelona’s municipal library system. This second transforma-
tion involved the construction of a flat-roofed, bar-shaped element that
orthogonally connects the two pavilions to the north. In 2000, a second
extension was built in the other courtyard, this time paralleling the form
and spirit of the original shed-shaped pavilions. Finally, in 2015 Oliveras
Boix Arquitectes was commissioned to undertake a complete overhaul of
the library.
Although they had the freedom to demolish the ad-hoc accumu-
lation and start anew, they nevertheless opted for its rehabilitation in
recognition of the popular collective memory embodied in it. Their project
involved removing interior partitions that had been added over the years
to create a brighter, more open facility, while the older structures were
insulated and refurbished.
The southern pavilions along Carrer de l’Arquitectura and the annex
from 2000 are now enclosed by a new structure of steel and glass. A new
infill, a shed-roof construction that closes one of the last remaining gaps on
the site with a volume similar in size and proportion to the other modules,
transforms the whole significantly. The existing collection of freestanding
pavilions is now consolidated into a single building consisting almost en-
tirely of parallel bays under a sawtooth roof, the 1990 flat-top being the
only exception. The fully glazed end-walls of the new addition contrast with
the older ribbon windows of the historical concrete and brick construction.
A metal shed roof, with a taller counter-sloped segment made of metal
meshing, screens mechanical equipment installed on the rooftop. The
resulting assemblage both reveals and revels in an architecture of trans-
formation, accretion, and bricolage. rgm

Site plan Scale 1:5000

150 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

First a primary school, then a community-­ dates to the 1950s. Its architecture was
run library, and now a municipal ­library: inspired by the Interbau international
the building with its bars and ­gardens architecture exhibition held in Berlin.

○
13 Montbau-Albert Pérez Baró Library Oliveras Boix Arquitectes 151
aa

Section, floor plan Scale 1:500 1 Park with 3 Open reading 6 Children’s 9 Seminar room
­seating area ­library 10 Director’s office
2 Entrance 4 Computer room 7 Main library 11 Staff room
5 Lending desk 8 Work spaces

11
3 4

10

1 2 7 8

5 9

a 3 a
6

Ground floor

152 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

○
13 Montbau-Albert Pérez Baró Library Oliveras Boix Arquitectes 153
154 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
○
13 Montbau-Albert Pérez Baró Library Oliveras Boix Arquitectes 155
 Fabra i Coats is no longer a textile
­factory but a creative complex that
156 CULTURE AND EDUCATION ­includes an art gallery.
Industrial
Heritage
as an
Opportunity
Heide Wessely

BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010 157

The thought of Barcelona invokes images of its beach along the Mediterranean and,
of course, Antoni Gaudí. But a closer look reveals another characteristic of the Cata-
lan metropolis: until the 1970s, the city was an outstanding industrial location. Former
factories, workers’ housing, and cooperative housing characterize the cityscape to
this day. Barcelona’s industrial heritage is currently being revitalized in many areas
thanks to efforts of the city administration and citizen initiatives.

Although industrialization began much later in Barcelona than in other

European cities, it took over the city with full force. Around 1900, facto-
ries of various sizes sprang up across the city, many of them located in
areas that were still independent at the time, such as Sants, Poblenou,
and Gràcia. The textile industry was particularly important. The “Man-
chester of the South”, as Barcelona was sometimes called at the time,
offered work, prosperity, and growth. Urban expansion became nec-
essary to accommodate the many new workers this drew to the city,
and Eixample was born – a district famous for its checkerboard pattern
housing blocks designed by Ildefons Cerdà. Many modernista jewels
date from the same period, such as Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló, built for
Josep Batlló i Casanovas, whose entrepreneurial family ran one of the
biggest textile factories, Can Batlló. Gaudí was also commissioned to
design Park Güell, originally intended as a luxury residential complex,
by Eusebi Güell, who was also a textile manufacturer and real estate
magnate.

Neighbourhood factories
Historical traces of the industrial age persist throughout Barcelona
today in the form of old smokestacks dotting the landscape, small
workshops renovated into sports clubs, glassworks transformed into
community centres, large factories serving as design hubs, and old
warehouses providing living space for the creative scene. Yet many for-
mer industrial sites remain empty, waiting for a second or third life. One
of the most prominent is Can Batlló, and illustrates the extent to which
citizens in Barcelona are involved in urban development. Extending

158 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

BAAS Arquitectura gave new life to the can now be seen in the two refurbished
oldest textile factory in the neighbour- buildings and the exposed concrete
hood of Poblenou. Contemporary Cata- ­addition. The project is part of the urban
lan paintings by Fundació Vila Casas development programme @22.

­Industrial Heritage as an Opportunity Heide Wessely 159

 In June 2011, residents of the Sants dis- and demanded the space for the com-
trict had enough: they stormed the site mon good. Today, community associa-
of the former textile factory, Can Batlló, tions run a library, kindergarten, work-
which had been sealed off by the city, shops, and a café there.

160 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

 over 14.6 hectares, the former textile factory was forced to close in the
1960s. Numerous workshops and small businesses then settled on the
premises, providing work for about 2,000 people. When the economic
crisis in 2008 forced most of them to cease operations, the buildings
began to deteriorate. Eventually, the city sealed off the area with a high
fence. Several attempts to transform the site into a luxury residential
development were thwarted by the 1976 “Plan General Metropolitano”
(General Plan for the Metropolitan Region), which stipulated that area
residents could use the Can Batlló site with its intact squares, paths,
and green spaces. A community initiative grew out of this situation, giv-
ing the city government an ultimatum for the site’s revitalization in 2011.
When no action was taken, citizens stormed the premises. Ultimately,
the city council agreed to allocate some 13,000 m2 to a self-managed
neighbourhood organization – which now operates a café, kindergar-
ten, workshops, and a library. The architecture collective Lacol played
a leading role in the project. Still enrolled at the university at the time,
the young activist architects not only drew up the plans but also collab-
orated on their implementation.

Working together to shape the city

The idea of urban planning as a grassroots movement also applies to
Fabra i Coats in the working-class neighbourhood of Sant Andreu. The
large industrial site was once home to a textile factory, separated into
two parts by the trade road to France. The factory was operational until
2006, and many of its former employees still live in the neighbourhood.
They also protested loudly against the city’s plans to demolish the
factory site and pursue a master plan to build high-rises in its place.
For most of the buildings north of the trade road, the resistance came
too late – today, a single historic building remains standing on a patch
of green. But the campaigners were able to save the other side of the
street, and initiated the development of a lively neighbourhood centre
that includes a kindergarten, elementary school, offices, and an art gal-
lery. A public housing project by Roldán + Berengué (p. 236) is also part
of this vibrant community. Another of its highlights is the music school,
which residents selected as part of a participatory process facilitated
by the internet platform decidim.barcelona, where they can vote on
the projects they want to see realized on the premises and how much
money should be spent on them. This platform for citizen participa-
tion was introduced under the city administration led by leftist mayor
Ada Colau, which explicitly desires citizen participation in grassroots
decision-making processes. Can Batlló and Fabra i Coats are hardly
isolated cases but are among several examples of the new era in urban

­Industrial Heritage as an Opportunity Heide Wessely 161

 planning in Barcelona. Even in Poblenou, where many of the old indus-
trial buildings were razed and replaced by the Olympic Village, some of
the buildings could be saved through citizen protests.

Technology, culture, status symbol

The city has since embraced the potential of its old industrial sites
in Poblenou in the Sant Martí district, and in 2000 launched one
of the most extensive European revitalization programmes, called
“22@Barcelona”. An urban quarter dedicated to technology and inno-
vation is currently being built on the former 200-hectare industrial site,
along with much-needed housing. Modern landmarks like Jean N ­ ouvel’s
Torre Glòries coexist with 114 catalogued industrial monuments that are
gradually taking on new uses. Various neighbourhood associations are
ensuring that these new uses are not only profitable but also benefit the
urban population through social and cultural facilities. For example, the
former Can Felipa bleaching factory now houses a community centre
designed by Josep Lluís Mateo, while Baas Arquitectura converted the
Can Framis wool mill into a museum for Catalan art. New educational
facilities are also springing up, like at the former Can Ricart cotton
printing factory, which extends over four blocks in the neighbourhood

Oliveras Boix Arquitectes preserved only new multifunctional building with a

the outer shell of the former Alchemika l­ibrary, retirement home, kindergarten,
plastic factory. Behind it, they built a and community centre.

162 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

 of Eixample. The complex will be transformed into the campus for the
University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media.
From kindergartens to design hubs, these many new uses are
being created on the initiative of three main groups: citizens demand-
ing the revival of the factories where their grandparents once worked;
the city government, which is commissioning a growing number of
adaptive reuse projects; and private investors, who are creating their
own monuments by transforming and saving old industrial sites. One
of the best-known examples is CaixaForum from 2002, which Arata
Isozaki transformed into a museum for contemporary art. The former
textile factory was designed by one of the most influential architects
of the Catalan Art Nouveau (also known as Modernisme), Josep Puig i
Cadafalch. His building from 1913 was listed in 1976. Because the ex-
isting space was insufficient for the foundation of the Catalan bank
Caixa and its sizeable collection, a considerable part of the spatial
programme was built underneath the site at considerable expense.

Casas fabricas for the creative scene

Art and creativity are also increasingly taking hold in El Raval in the
historic part of the city. The quarter is situated within the medieval city
walls, which limited its growth for centuries. With the industrial revo-
lution, many casas fabricas – small factories – sprang up on a small
area, making El Raval the most densely populated neighbourhood in
Europe. Living quarters faced the street, with workshops for spinning
and weaving were situated in the back, invisible from the street. But
behind the front door, time seems to stand still, as well-trodden stairs
lead up to old workshop spaces, reminiscent of New York lofts. Thick,
sagging beams rest on delicate steel supports, while large windows
draw in plenty of natural light. Designers, architects, and artists have
settled here, often without an official lease but on the premise of main-
taining the buildings and being allowed to use them rent-free in return.
Recently, the city administration has shown interest in the future of
the factory buildings, also due to pressure from the creative scene.
So far, 26 of them have been listed, and plans for their adaptive reuse
have been commissioned. For example, one casa fabrica that the city
bought back from a private investor is currently being converted into a
youth centre.

Reevaluation and reuse

It wasn’t until the 1980s that the city introduced historic preservation
for industrial facilities, which slowed down the rate of demolition con-
siderably. The publication “Cent elements del Patrimoni Industrial a

­Industrial Heritage as an Opportunity Heide Wessely 163

 The casas fábrica were small factories preserve the old buildings; 26 of them
where people also lived. Today, the site have since become designated histori-
is home to a creative scene fighting to cal monuments.

164 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

 Catalunya” lists 100 industrial monuments worthy of preservation, and
was soon expanded to 150 – including not only buildings but also water
towers and smokestacks.
One of the first conversions of a former factory building was
Gottardo de Andreis Metalgraf in Badalona. In 1980, the factory that
produced engraved metal containers was closed, and soon after, Enric
Miralles and Carme Pinós transformed the building into a secondary
school. The architect team renovated the well-preserved existing
structure designed by Joan Amigó i Barriga in 1922, but also left their
own legacy by replacing part of the facade with large glass elements –
a feature that was ultra-modern at the time.
Oliveras Boix Arquitectes took a different approach in trans-
forming the former Alchemika plastics factory into a multi-use building
with a library, kindergarten, retirement home, and community centre.
Their intervention in 2015 preserved only the historic facade, behind
which everything else is new. In the case of the Sala Beckett theatre
by Flores & Prats Arquitectes (p. 132) and the Lleialtat Santsenca com-
munity centre by Harquitectes (p. 60), the architects preserved the
historical fabric, uncovering and celebrating traces of different eras.
Their own architectural intervention stays more in the background, as
another piece of the mosaic in the buildings’ history. The ephemeral,
the broken, and the rough remain visible – an architectural attitude that
fits well socially and politically with our times.

­Industrial Heritage as an Opportunity Heide Wessely 165

 Client: Consorci de l’Educació de Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 173–175,
­Barcelona Sants
Structural design: Jordi Payola 🌐 emav.com
Completion: 2019 #emav.EscolaDeMitjansAudiovisuals
Area: 7,611 m2 @emavescola
Use: Film school

14 JAAS

Film School in a Factory

EMAV School for
­Audiovisual Media

Escola de Mitjans Audiovisuals (EMAV) is a public vocational school

for audiovisual and media technology, which occupies a 19th-century
industrial building at Can Batlló, a large factory complex whose loca-
tion was once considered outside of the Barcelona city bounds. The
industrial building was restored and repurposed to enable reversibility,
meaning the ability to deconstruct an intervention without affecting
the historical host building. To achieve this, JAAS placed the school’s
main programmatic uses within big, freestanding wooden boxes con-
structed upon the original building’s two floors and situating building
services, access corridors, and other ancillary spaces in a separate
volume along the northern exterior wall. 167
The wooden boxes are set back from the historical exterior walls, leaving
variably sized daylit margins of in-between space for horizontal circulation
as well as work tables, display areas, and lounge furniture, where students
can pass the time between classes.
JAAS based the layout of the school for 600 students on that of the
historical building. On the ground floor, where a grid of cast iron columns
supports a Catalan-vaulted upper floor slab, relatively small spaces have
been nestled, including classrooms, administrative offices, and meeting
rooms. The column-free upper level accommodates larger spaces, like an
auditorium, a television studio, and a sound studio beneath a roof sup-
ported by timber trusses.

The lower wooden box is divided into a smaller upper level and a larger
lower level, creating a perimeter gallery overlooking the common areas on
the ground floor. The wooden boxes are strongly characterized by a regular
rhythm of wooden pilasters orientated orthogonally, like fins. They function
as both vertical structural members as well as privacy louvres over class-
room and office glazing – the view into these rooms is only possible when
standing directly in front of them. The repetitive nature of the wood pilasters
reflects the rational simplicity and standardization typical of 19th-century
industrial architecture. This theme is carried through to the auditorium inte-
rior, whose walls are lined with vertical, sound-absorbing baffles finished in a
bright “red carpet” colour as a mark of dignity and distinction.
The original warehouse was left mostly untouched by the architec-
tural intervention, save for historical window openings that required infilling,
which was done matter-of-factly in similar brick to enable reversibility in
case of future alterations. All the roof trusses were dismantled, cleaned,
and reconstructed as part of the building restoration before adding a new
zinc roof with diamond-patterned standing seams and triangle-shaped
skylights. Although the new structure is clearly distinct from the old one, it
complements the existing structure, serving as a model for the redevelop-
ment of the rest of Can Batllò’s industrial buildings. rgm

168 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Site plan Scale 1:8000

GSPublisherVersion 0.98.100.98

○
14 EMAV School for Audiovisual Media JAAS 169
Section, floor plan Scale 1:750 1 Entrance 7 Teaching staff, 12 Cinema 19 Production
2 Foyer/displays/ administration 13 Cloakroom 20 Lounge/presen-
lockers 8 Large hall, 14 Theatre tations
3 Classroom ­lectures/ 15 TV studio 21 Pre-production/
4 Work area assemblies 16 Photography repairs
5 Equipment 9 Student lounge 17 Radio
loans 10 Digital archive 18 Recording
6 Editing suites 11 Servers ­studio

170 CULTURE
 AND EDUCATION
 6 21

20

16 17 18 19

13

aa 12 14 15

First floor

10 11

7 8

Mezzanine

6 5 1

Ground floor

○
14 EMAV School for Audiovisual Media JAAS 171
172 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
When the theatre opens to the neigh- open, leading guests straight upstairs
bourhood, the doors to the school itself into the bright red auditorium.
are locked. Only the staircase remains

○
14 EMAV School for Audiovisual Media JAAS 173
 Client: Barcelona d’Infraestructures Comptes de Bell-Lloc 192–200,
­Municipals Les Corts
Structural design: Eskubi Turroó 🌐 barcelona.cat/bibmontserratabello
­arquitectes #bibmontserratabelló
Completion: 2018
Area: 4,005 m2
Use: Library, meeting rooms, FabLab

15 Ricard Mercadé / Aurora Fernández arquitectes

From Silk Ribbons to

Book Ribbons
Montserrat Abelló Library

Montserrat Abelló Library is housed in one of Spain’s first reinforced

concrete buildings. Designed by the Swiss civil engineer Robert Mail-
lart in the 1920s, the former factory produced silk ribbons until 1984. It
comprises two parts: a three-storey office building and the old weaving
mill with its sawtooth roof. Incident light only entered the historic hall
through the north-facing sheds; otherwise, it was as closed as the
ground floor of the office wing. Opening up the structure was therefore
an essential aspect of the redesign. Architects Ricard Mercadé and
Aurora Fernández inserted vertical window slits into the hall facades
and had the entire north side replaced by a glass-lined steel structure
so that the library’s central room is now visible from the street. Pass-
ers-by can look inside to see readers, bookshelves, and the supporting 175
structure with its slender columns bearing the roof. The facade on the long
side, where the entrance is located, is also transparent at street level. A
massive reinforced concrete beam above a few mighty columns supports
the upper levels and allows for generous glazing on the ground floor. The
windows are framed by black steel profiles, whose precise contours form
a strong contrast to the raw concrete surfaces. The architects’ selection
of materials reflects the combination of old and new: clay-coloured plaster
was used to cover the masonry of the historic structure, while the new el-
ements are made of concrete, steel, and timber. Pinewood characterizes
the library entrance, fostering a warm atmosphere. Inside, the foyer opens
up to the roof. The architect duo removed parts of the former ceilings to
create the double-height atrium, which floods the interior with natural
light and spatially links the two previously separate parts of the building.
To the right of the entrance, a fabrication lab (FabLab) with 3D printers can
be used by local schools and community makers who want to turn their
creative ideas into reality. Three rooms on the second floor can be used for
various community events free of charge; companies must pay a rental fee.

The rest of the building is occupied by the district library. More than just
a lending library, it provides a welcoming space for reading, learning, and
working. The different reading zones are designed similarly to a living room,
with sofas, table lamps, armchairs, and side tables by Spanish designers.
The furniture in wood and steel was designed by the architects themselves,
along with the niches where benches and a long table create spaces for
conversation – elsewhere throughout the library, silence reigns. A wooden
box, situated parallel to one of the atriums, provides a separate area for
children to do arts and crafts. Here, openings were cut into the sheds to
foster air circulation. Thick thermal insulation and a sophisticated heating
and ventilation system in the floor helped the new library in Les Corts earn
the Breeam Very Good label. The public library is named after the Catalan
poet and translator Montserrat Abelló i Soler. hw

176 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Even today, the two different parts its ­sawtooth roof and then the taller build-
of the complex are immediately recog- ing, which previously served as the office
nizable: there is the factory building with wing of the converted ribbon factory.

Site plan Scale 1:5000

○
15 Montserrat Abelló Library Ricard Mercadé / Aurora Fernández arquitectes 177
178 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
 aa

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:750 1 Entrance 5 Info desk 8 Main library 11 Rental space
2 Foyer 6 Terrace 9 Multimedia 12 Closed stacks
3 FabLab 7 Children’s 10 Conference 13 Storage
4 Transformers ­library room 14 Administration/
Staff

8 7

5
6

14

13 12
1
8
2

11 11
10
3 4 4 9

Ground floor First floor Second floor

○
15 Montserrat Abelló Library Ricard Mercadé / Aurora Fernández arquitectes 179
180 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
○
15 Montserrat Abelló Library Ricard Mercadé / Aurora Fernández arquitectes 181
 Client: Lycée Français de Barcelone Carrer de Munner 5, Sant Gervasi
Structural design: BIS Structures 🌐 lfb.es/la-maternelle
Completion: 2019 @lfb_barcelone
Area: 3,400 m2
Use: Preschool

16 b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

Multilingual and
­Multicultural
French Preschool

The Catalan bourgeoisie settled in the neighbourhood of Bonanova

in the early 20th century, forming a community of palatial villas. To-
day, many of the magnificent private buildings now house institutions
and schools – including two identical villas from the 1920s, on whose
grounds the Lycée Français de Barcelone preschool (Maternelle) now
stands. The school’s main campus is located about 3 km away.
For the preschool expansion, the architects had one of the
dilapidated villas demolished and erected a much larger structure in
its place. Its impressive size is toned down by the volume’s round-
ed corners – a nod to the architecture of its predecessor – and the 183
colourful facade. Its vertical fins in white, yellow, and orange are arranged
in different-sized horizontal bands, which makes the actual floor heights
difficult to discern. As a result, the five-storey building appears less domi-
nant in relation to the villa opposite, which is only two storeys high. Taking
advantage of the topography, the architects hid much of the lower level in
the hillside. The entrance was moved to the semi-basement level on the
valley side, where the floor-to-ceiling transparent glass facade creates a
bright, open area for drop-off and pick-up. A wide outdoor staircase leads
from the entrance area up to the playground, where leafy trees provide
shade in summer. Some of the older conifers were tastefully integrated
into the newly paved playing surface. This central courtyard serves as a link
between the new building and the historic villa. Here, too, the team from
b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos played with the patterns of the facade’s
colourful metal slats, using them for fencing and the balustrades to visu-
ally unify the entire complex in a spirit of playfulness and joy. The rooms of
the old villa now hold offices, a music room, and a library with over 5,600
books. In the new building, each age group is assigned to one of the three
upper floors. On the lowest level, where the entrance is also located, the
children can play and tumble in a multipurpose room and enjoy mealtimes
in the cafeteria. Then they head out to one of the three outdoor play areas:
the central courtyard, the large first-floor terrace that flows into a walkway
to the villa, or the roof, where the little ones can let off steam on the colour-
ful patterns of the artificial turf.
Around 400 children currently attend the preschool, which is over-
seen by the French Ministry of Culture and has an outstanding reputation
– Spanish, Catalan, and English are taught there, and at pick-up time, the
narrow street in front of the building fills with French voices. hw

184 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Site plan Scale 1:5000

Grundstücksgrenzen ???

○
16 French Preschool b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos 185
 aa

Section, floor plans Scale 1:1000 1 Deliveries 7 Quiet zone 13 Music room 18 Staff
2 Entrance 8 WC 14 Classroom 19 Teachers’
3 Multipurpose 9 Play area 15 Language lab lounge
room 10 Utility room 16 Reception / 20 Principal’s
4 Kitchen 11 Foyer old administration ­office
5 Cafeteria ­building 17 Conference 21 Play area on
6 Classroom 12 Library room balcony

10

10
9

11 11 9 6 7

12 13
11 11 6 7
12 8
12 13
7
12 8

Second floor

21

21
a 5 a

4
5
a a
18
4
3 19
18

3 19

2 1

Ground floor

186 CULTURE
 AND EDUCATION
 21

5 a 17

4 16 14 14
21
18

3 19 20
15

2
First floor

The roof is also accessible to the chil- on the patterned artificial turf and
dren as one of the preschool’s several ­explore the permanently installed
outdoor playscapes. Kids can run around ­educational activities.

○
16 French Preschool b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos 187
 Client: Agrupació Pedagògica Carrer del Jardí 72–80, Sabadell
Sant ­Nicolau 🌐 santnicolau.com
Structural design: DSM arquitectes #santnicolausbd
Completion: 2014 @santnicolau
Area: 1,677 m2
Use: Primary school

17 Harquitectes

Colourful Community
School 906

For this primary school refurbishment project, the architects made

minimal changes to modernize and subtly organize the existing building
complex with its rough, tactile materiality while preserving its patina.
School 906 is located on the corner of a dense block in the centre of
Sabadell, an industrial city about 20 km northwest of Barcelona. Two
volumes frame a large courtyard, with a sports hall in the basement.
The architects’ intervention was limited to the older of the two build-
ings and the outdoor spaces. Built in 1959, the structure was not listed,
yet it possessed a charisma that the architects felt worthy of preser-
vation. They decided to renovate and maintain much of the historical
substance, such as its vaulted ceilings and street-facing exposed
brickwork. 189
The redesign places a strong focus on the needs of children, using the
schoolyard and rooftops to create sheltered outdoor play areas where
students can move around freely. The biggest playground is on the build-
ing’s flat roof, which was reinforced and supplemented by a flight of stairs,
beneath which another play zone was created. From the terrace, children
can now look across the city under the protection of light-coloured sun-
shades. At the main entrance, a new foyer establishes a welcoming space
for orientation and communication. Here, the old brick walls combine with
new steel columns and concrete block walls for an exciting architectural
effect.

The most significant intervention is the extension of the main wing on the
south side of the schoolyard. Although it was not required as part of the
competition, this additional element is what won over the jury. Conditions
in the north wing were cramped. Since the adjacent street prevented the
building’s expansion in that direction, the architects extended it toward
the courtyard by adding a 3 m deep steel structure in front of it. The mid-
dle access corridor on the ground floor was left intact, but on the upper
floors, it was moved to the opposite side of the central load-bearing wall.
By doing so, they could increase the size of the rooms on the street side
from 35 to 50 m2. The new facade is fronted by perforated steel louvres
that reduce the strong solar radiation by 20 %; during the winter months,
their horizontal position helps to keep in the heat. Where the louvres meet
the windowsills, the children make use of the space for growing plants. The
new 50 cm space between the louvres and the facade, which is divided into
narrow units by vertical posts made of sturdy Douglas fir, aids ventilation
and acts as a thermal buffer. sd

190 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

 The school building from 1959 did not the existing fabric and added a steel
stand under historical protection, but it structure in front of it, which also pro-
still had charm. The architects preserved tects against the sun.

Section existing building aa

Site plan Scale 1:4000 1 Kindergarten, 2 Schoolyard and 3 Administration, 4 Rooftop play-
primary school underground cafeteria, sec- ground above
sports hall ondary school sports hall
­entrance

1
3
4 2

○
17 School 906 Harquitectes 191
 1

b 2 2 2 2 b

c a

bb cc

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:400 1 Entrance 5 Psychologist 8 Foyer 11 Special needs
2 Classroom 6 Principal’s 9 Computer room
3 Visitors room ­office lab 12 Storage
4 Tutors 7 Utility room 10 Library

11 10 9

12

2 2 2 2

First floor

c a

7 6 5 4 3

b 2 2 2 2 b

c a

Ground floor

192 CULTURE
 AND EDUCATION
○
17 School 906 Harquitectes 193
194 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
○
17 School 906 Harquitectes 195
Anna Ramos in conversation with Sandra Hofmeister

European
Perspectives

BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010 197

For more than two decades, Fundació Mies van der Rohe has been known for its
prestigious biannual European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture | Mies van
der Rohe Awards. The award by the European Commission and the Fundació in Bar-
celona honours outstanding examples of European architecture and urban planning.
The Fundació’s commitment to architecture also includes the support of regional
and local perspectives on Barcelona. With its programme of exhibitions, congresses
and workshops, it has become a city-renowned platform for architecture education,
reaching a broad audience. Anna Ramos has been the director of Fundació Mies van
der Rohe since 2016. In this interview, she explains why European and local perspec-
tives on architecture are important to sustain the discourse.

The Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig structed in the exact same place it

Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich was before. In-depth research was
is a compelling icon of modern conducted as part of a very fruitful
architecture. How did it come to collaboration with the Museum of
pass that the German Pavilion for Modern Art in New York and the
the 1929 Barcelona International Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz in
Exposition, which was demol- Berlin. Thanks to that, stone for the
ished, was later reconstructed in structure could be sourced from
the 1980s? some of the original quarries as well
When the original German Pavilion as nearby quarries.
was demolished right after Expo
1929, it became an icon, inspiring Were there critics of the recon-
generations of architects. The fact struction?
that it no longer existed likely made There was quite an interesting intel-
it an even stronger symbol of perfec- lectual controversy: Should we
tion. The pavilion became a refer- rebuild something that is not there
ence for architects worldwide. Al- anymore? Today, after more than 30
ready in the 1950s, a group of young years and after millions of architects
architects from Barcelona thought it have visited the reconstructed pavil-
would be great to get the building ion, this controversy is over. We
back for the city. They wrote to Mies always clearly explain to our guests
van der Rohe, and he agreed to that the building is not the original
rebuild it. But it was only many years but a reconstruction. Architecture
later that this was possible – in the should be visited and walked around
1980s when democracy had returned in; experiencing the spaces yourself
to Spain. The building was recon- is a great way to learn about it. The

198 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

 main purpose behind reconstructing 1929 was a building for research and
the pavilion was to provide this experimentation. For Mies van der
experience of a masterpiece. Rohe and Lilly Reich, it was an
opportunity to realize their ideas in
Today, the Fundació Mies van der physical form. So, the pavilion was
Rohe uses the pavilion as an experimental in both its design and
exhibition space. Your mission is, construction. Once completed, the
on the one hand, the diligent care small building transformed the way
of this architectural heritage. And of building worldwide. Today, we
on the other hand, the Fundació follow this mindset and this path of
is a driver of contemporary archi- Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich.
tecture discourse. How do you We try to keep up with the spirit of
bring both sides together? our time through architecture. This
is probably the strongest connection
between the original pavilion and
contemporary architecture.
“Mies van der Rohe and Lilly
Reich turned their ideas and Today, the EUmies Award has a
long list of winners. Recently
research into reality – chan- there has been a clear focus on
ging the way people build all social responsibility. Is that one of
over the world.” the award’s standard criteria?
We look for excellence in architec-
ture in general. Each jury must define
anew what exactly this means. And,
of course, following the idea of
The Fundació was established to architecture representing the spirit of
reconstruct what we now call the the time, the jury often addresses
Mies van der Rohe Pavilion. Soon social and political issues as part of
after, we launched the European its deliberations.
Union Prize for Contemporary
Architecture – Mies van der Rohe The Fundació’s programme in-
Award (EUmies Award). Spain en- cludes young people. Why is it
tered the European Union in 1986, important to target the next
and we had wonderful supporters generation on a local level?
like Xavier Rubert de Ventós, a That’s crucial in my eyes. We wel-
philosopher and Spanish member of come many youngsters from primary
the EU Parliament, who advocated and high schools and tell them not
for the idea of an European Architec- only about the building itself, but
ture Award as a means to strengthen also about the creative processes of
Europe in terms of culture. The architecture. We want them to learn
original Barcelona Pavilion from architectural thinking and how to

Anna Ramos in conversation with Sandra Hofmeister 199

 look at spaces like architects do. Our improving the standards. We have
purpose is also to reach out to adults extraordinary old buildings all over
who are not familiar with architec- Europe – the built heritage is part of
ture at all. We think we have an our cities and streets. It is part of our
extraordinary opportunity to tell daily life, so keeping those buildings
them more about it, to open their alive is better for everyone. There are
mind so they can enjoy spaces and extraordinary examples that bring
see contemporary architecture with together a love for the old and respect
new eyes. for the achievements of our predeces-
sors with adaptive reuse for today’s
Contemporary architecture is contexts.
increasingly about refurbishing
existing buildings, transforming You had a focus on Lilly Reich in
old structures to give them a new recent years, which brings me to
life. How have you addressed the question of women in archi-
that? tecture. What is your perspective
Understanding the heritage of archi- on that?
tecture in the existing environment When I started at Fundació Mies van
is extraordinarily connected with der Rohe, I proposed a Lilly Reich
understanding the social context, the grant for equality in architecture. We
urban context, the building sector, have since had three editions of this
the needs of the inhabitants, and the grant. It started as a way to gather
evolution of how people live in cities. more information on Lilly Reich
We do not speak in terms of heritage herself. But now we have widened
“restoration” but about reusing build- the focus: the winning fellows of the
ings or keeping the same use but latest edition proposed to conduct a

Many Fundaciò Mies van der Rohe exhi- public for both the winners of the Euro-
bitions travel across Europe. With them, pean award and contemporary architec-
200 CULTURE AND EDUCATION the foundation aims to inspire a broad ture in general.
 research on Anna Bofill Levi, a will be presented at the Venice Archi-
Barcelona-based female architect tecture Biennale in an exhibition as
now in her 80s. She realized some a collateral event; the award ceremo-
extraordinary transdisciplinary, ny and accompanying discussions
participatory projects more than will also take place in Venice. As for
50 years ago. We can pass on her Barcelona: We are in charge of orga-
valuable first-hand knowledge to nizing activities for the UNESCO-­
younger ­generations. Lilly Reich, for UIA World Capital of Architecture in
instance, was well known during 2026. Barcelona will host that year
her time, but she was forgotten after the World Congress of the Union of
her death. It took a huge effort to International Architects (UIA) and,
make her visible again today. That’s on behalf of the city council, we will
why we must ensure that no one is organize all the annual congress
forgotten and keep the genealogies events. Please save the date!
alive. Our mothers and grandmothers
must be credited if we want our
daughters and granddaughters to
know about our own achievements.
We always have to keep the flame
burning; if the fire goes out, you have
to light it up again. It is much harder
to be a pioneer than to follow what
others did – that’s why female role
models are so important.

Last question: What are your

current projects?
One of our many projects is the 2023
edition of the Young Talent Award,
the category of the EUmies Award
focusing on diploma projects. It is
open to architecture schools across
Europe, and in this year’s edition, we
also invited African architecture
schools. We aim to invite other
continents in every edition. We
started with Asian countries, then
invited some Latin American coun-
tries, and this year we will have
African schools participating. It’s
pretty exciting; we are learning a lot
through this process. The awards

Anna Ramos in conversation with Sandra Hofmeister 201

 Client: Consorcio de Educación de Carrer d’Europa 41, Les Corts
­Barcelona
Structural design: Àrea 5
Landscape architecture: Miquel Espinet
Completion: 2011
Area: 822 m2
Use: Daycare centre

18 Espinet / Ubach

Camouflage by Day –
Beacon by Night
Bressol Xiroi Daycare
Centre

Since the opening of the Escola Bressol Xiroi daycare centre, the black
locust trees at Carrer d’Europa 41 have grown tall, their canopies almost
obscuring the building. With its green and ochre tones, the perforated
corrugated cladding on the facade blends with the trees’ lush foliage.
When the sun shines and the wind stirs the branches, a play of light and
shadow animates the facade. But the shell that envelops the property
also serves a very practical purpose: protecting the children inside.
Unlike most educational institutions in Spain, which are surrounded by
massive, high walls, Escola Bressol Xiroi’s protective shell allows views
inside. The degree of transparency changes depending on the viewing
angle and how much the corrugated metal overlaps. Generous open-
ings are cut into the facade in three places, providing an unobstructed
view of the playground and interior spaces. The facade appears closed
in other areas, where the three-storey school building is closer to the
perforated envelope. But things are different on the inside, where the 203
six group rooms open onto the courtyard with floor-to-ceiling windows.
When their doors are open, interior and exterior merge so the children can
play in the shade of a tree or under the big awnings on the expansive balcony
on the upper floor. A flight of exterior stairs connects the two outdoor areas,
with a large grille door at the top to keep the two- to three-year-olds safe.
At the pointed end of the building, a multifunctional room on the
upper level measures nearly 100 m2, with daylight filtering through the
perforated sheet from two sides. At night, the windows behind the perfo-
rated shell stand out like glowing square surfaces, while the floor-to-ceiling
glazing of the group rooms transforms the building into a luminous body.
For passers-by, the perforated skin appears almost transparent, the steel
supporting structure draws patterns in the darkness, and the layering of
the shell, supporting structure, and glass facade becomes even more ap-
parent.
With its sharp triangular shape, the plot was a challenging site to
build on. But by placing a separate structure inside an outer shell that is at
once transparent, opaque, and closed, Espinet / Ubach succeeded in cre-
ating a visually complex building with a small footprint. They emphasize the
pointed corner by allowing the metal facade to rise at this point, forming
a tall, sharp corner that marks the entrance to a small park on the side of
the structure facing away from the street. That is also where the daycare’s
entrance is located – a glass door with a bright orange frame in an exposed
concrete base. Colourful, childlike graffiti hints at the building’s use.
The site was originally part of the Cristalleries Planell glassworks
– just across the street is the community centre of the same name by
Harquitectes, whose patchwork of masonry from various historical peri-
ods speaks a very different architectural language. Nevertheless, the two
neighbours harmonize wonderfully with their historical and contemporary
contrasts. hw

204 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Site plan Scale 1:5000

○
18 Bressol Xiroi Daycare Centre Espinet / Ubach 205
 aa

The different parts of the building are

enclosed by the perforated shell, as if in
a construction kit. The outer shell marks
the property boundary and protects its
young users.

206 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

 bb

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:500 1 Entrance 5 Nap room 9 Strollers 12 Cloakroom
2 Kitchen 6 Playground 10 Multifunctional 13 Workshop
3 Cafeteria 7 Laundry room 14 Balcony play-
4 Group room 8 Office 11 Staff ground

11 12 13
10

14

First floor

2 1 9 8 7
b b
3
5 5

4 4

Ground floor

○
18 Bressol Xiroi Daycare Centre Espinet / Ubach 207
 Client: Universitat Autònoma de UAB Campus Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del
­Barcelona Vallès
Structural design: Boma 🌐 uab.cat/icta
Completion: 2017 #icta-uab
Area: 8,237 m2 @icta.stories
Use: Research institute

19 Harquitectes, dataAE

Science in a Greenhouse
Autonomous University of
Barcelona Research Centre

The new research building on the Bellaterra campus of the Autono-

mous University of Barcelona (UAB) presents itself as an austere cube
with a simple louvred facade of steel and polycarbonate panels. Be-
hind it, however, is a complex structure made of of concrete and wood
with a sophisticated ventilation and climate system. Located 20 km
northwest of Barcelona’s city centre, the campus is home to numerous
university facilities as well as more than 800 student apartments. This
new university building is located on a patch of green at the south-
ern edge of the campus adjacent to the highway and accommodates
research facilities for environmental sciences and paleontology. The
sustainability requirements for the new complex, whose five floors hold 209
lecture rooms, offices, and laboratories, were correspondingly high. Park-
ing areas and storage are situated mainly underground on two basement
levels. Catalonia’s hot, humid summers and the high heat loads generated
in the high-tech spaces called for a well-designed ventilation strategy.
The architects grouped insulated timber boxes around four atriums
that serve as a buffer zone. Enclosing the entire volume is a standardized,
cost-effective greenhouse system, with polycarbonate panels that can
open partially like flaps. In summer, warm air rises behind this outer skin
and in the building-high atriums and escapes through flaps in the roof.
Fresh air flowing in from outside is cooled in a cavity beneath the building
and then directed into the atriums. In winter, the polycarbonate panels
remain closed, and the air behind them warms the courtyards and office
cubes, which are equipped with ventilation flaps. The reinforced concrete
structure with its thick ceiling slabs has a high thermal mass. Large ducts
running through the middle of the slabs reduce their dead weight and
channel air that has been preheated along support beams underground.
Reinforcing steel and conduits for the thermoactive system are above and
below that. This concept supports the three different climate zones in the
building: the zones heated and cooled by passive systems, such as the
atrium and lounge areas; the offices, which can be additionally heated; and
the air-conditioned labs. Experimental greenhouses at the top on the fifth
floor provide users with homegrown vegetables, while lush vegetation in
the atrium improves the indoor climate. sd

210 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Site plan Scale 1:4000

○
19 Autonomous University of Barcelona Research Centre Harquitectes, dataAE 211
212 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
 aa

Section, floor plans Scale 1:750 1 Storage 5 Atrium 8 Lecture hall 12 Experimental
2 Laboratory 6 Conference 9 Office greenhouse
3 Cafeteria room 10 Administration 13 Multipurpose
4 Staff 7 Printer 11 Void room

a a

a a
8 8 9 9 9 9 12 12

8 8 9 9 9 9 12 12
11 11
7 7
5 5 12 1112 11
6 11 11
7 7 6
6
5 6 12 11
5 12 11
8 8 10 10 13 13
6 6
6 6 6 6
8 8 10 10 13 1311
5 5 1211 12
6 6 11 11
5 5 5 11 11
12 12
5
12 11 11
4 45 53 3 10 10 12 12

11
4 4 3 3 10 10 12 12
12 11 a a
Ground floor Fourth floor
a a 9 99 9 9 9 9 9
1 131 1 1
1 1 9 99 9 9 9 9 9
11 12 9 9
11 11
1 1 1 1
1 1 11 11 11
1 1 9 9 9 911 11 9 9 9
1 1 9
11 11
1 1 12 9 9 99 9
1 1 9 9 9
2 2 9 9
2 2
9 9 11 11
9 9 9 9
2 2 1 1 1 12 2
11 11
11 11
9 9 9 9 9 9
1 1 1 1
11
9 119 9 9
2 2 2 2
9 11
2 2 2 2 9 9 9 9
11
9 9 9

Second basement floor First floor

9
9

○
11
19 Autonomous University of Barcelona9Research Centre Harquitectes, dataAE 213
11
214 CULTURE AND EDUCATION
The climate concept for winter and
­summer is based on the thermal mass
activation and passive ventilation.

○
19 Autonomous University of Barcelona Research Centre Harquitectes, dataAE 215
 Client: Consorci d’Educació de Plaça de Sant Bernat Calbó 2, Sant Martí
­Barcelona 🌐 lamarbella.cat
Structural design: Manuel Arguijo @escolamarbella
Landscape design: Manel Colominas
Completion: 2021
Area: 5,400 m2
Use: Kindergarten and primary school,
public institution

20 SUMO Arquitectes

A School in Dialogue with

the Community
La Mar Bella Primary
School

La Mar Bella – the beautiful sea – is the name of this school for children
aged 3 to 12. Despite the sea’s proximity, it is not visible from here; the
buildings in the former working-class district of Poblenou are too high,
almost hugging the school on three sides. The school campus consists
of a building from 1953, a new classroom building, and a new sports
hall. The three structures create outdoor spaces with very different
qualities. The back of the new, long classroom building borders the
terraces of the adjacent residential buildings; a trellised grid on the
two upper floors provides some visual distance. Meanwhile, the sports
hall, which connects to the new building along a glass-enclosed bridge,
opens up at the back with floor-to-ceiling windows to a narrow, busy 217
pedestrian zone. The bustle of daily life reflects in the windows, blending
with the activities in the hall. Interior and exterior merge – not only visually
but also in terms of the programme: the sports hall building, which includes
a workshop and library on the upper floor, can be used by the neighbour-
hood. Community meetings can be held there free of charge, local sports
clubs train in the gym after school hours, and a mobile stage allows for
theatre performances and concerts. The two long sides of the gym are
more closed in design. Its exposed concrete walls with varied finishes form
narrow alleys with opposite workers’ houses. These lead to a spacious pla-
za in front of the hall, which opens to the public with a row of folding glass
doors. If teachers and students need a break from curious spectators, the
doors remain closed, and a turquoise curtain blocks the view.
The architects of Sumo play with the surroundings and the theme
of interaction in many places throughout the complex. For example, the
connecting bridge between the school building and the sports hall is only
high enough not to obscure the listed facade of the townhouse behind
it. Sunshades in light-coloured fabric cast shadows while allowing light
through. Vertical wooden lamellas serve both as sun protection and as
a unifying element between the three buildings. The former gym in the
original building now holds a cafeteria, which Sumo extended with a glass
enclosure, creating a bright, airy atmosphere. All suspended ceilings were
removed to reveal the fireproofed steel structure and cap ceilings above.
Ventilation ducts and electrical lines were also left visible. This also applies
to the existing classrooms on the floor above, which now benefit from a
practical front zone thanks to a new wide corridor. Inside, the difference
between the old and new buildings is barely noticeable. Wood, dark fibre
cement panels, white wall surfaces, and concrete blocks define the rooms,
all of which can be cross-ventilated. A traffic light system indicates when
the CO2 level rises and the windows should be opened. If the traffic light
turns red, the ventilation system kicks in automatically. Using a variety of
measures, such as decentralized ventilation with heat recovery, air source
heat pump, thick insulation, ventilation chimneys in the gym, solar thermal
energy and photovoltaic panels that double as a sunshade, Sumo has cre-
ated a nearly zero energy building (NZEB) – still a rarity in Spain. hw

218 CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Site plan Scale 1:8000

○
20 La Mar Bella Primary School SUMO Arquitectes 219
Section, floor plans Scale 1:750 1 Entrance 6 Sports hall 9 Teacher’s 12 Workshop
2 Schoolyard 7 Classroom lounge 13 Outdoor
3 Cafeteria 8 Balcony play- 10 Library ­teaching
4 Kitchen ground, first 11 Multipurpose
5 Administration floor room

aa

220 CULTURE
 AND EDUCATION
 13

12

7 10 11
9

Second floor

GSPublisherVersion 0.98.100.98

3 2

4
a

Ground floor

○
20 La Mar Bella Primary School SUMO Arquitectes 221
 28

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29
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Images © TerraMetrics, map data © 2023 GeoBasis-DE/BKG (© 2009), Google

At Home in
the City

 ○
21 APROP
 Housing for People in Need Straddle3, Eulia Arkitektura, 230
Yaiza Terré
 ○
22 Fabra i Coats Apartments Roldán + Berengué 236
 ○
23 La Borda Housing C ­ ooperative Lacol 244
Interview Lacol: Working Together to Shape the City 252
 ○
24 La Balma Housing C ­ ooperative Lacol, La Boqueria 260
 ○
25 Caracol Residential Building Estudio Herreros, MIM-A 270
 ○
26 Apartment Building Lola Domènech, Lussi Studio 278
 ○
27 Alí
 Bei Social Housing Arquitectura Produccions, Pau Vidal, 286
­Vivas ­Arquitectos
Essay  Housing and Politics Jelena Prokopljević 294
 ○
28 85 Subsidized Apartments Peris+Toral Arquitectes 302
 ○
29 57
 Student Dwellings dataAE, Harquitectes 310
 ○
30 Torre
 Júlia Senior Residence Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons, R
­ icard Galiana 316
 Pau Vidal and Vivas Arquitectos designed includes 32 dwellings and diverse com-
a low-cost cooperative building on land mon areas.
224 AT HOME IN THE CITY leased from the city. The programme
La Chalmeta Pau Vidal Vivas Arquitectos 225
 Antonio Gaudí’s first major project was occupied for many years; since 2017, it
the Casa Vicens, completed in 1885. The has been open to the public. The original
226 AT HOME IN THE CITY former summer residence was privately appearance of the staircase is unknown.
Casa Vicens Antonio Gaudí 227
 Ricardo Bofill’s Walden 7 subsidized ­corridors, staircases, and niches, whose
housing project has seven courtyards. different surface materials are coloured
228 AT HOME IN THE CITY Residents can meet along its many in various shades of blue.
Walden 7 Housing Complex Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura 229
 Client: Ajuntament de Barcelona, Nou de Sant Francesc 8–10, Ciutat Vella
­Derechos Sociales
Structural design: Jon Begiristain & Ibai
Lamarca (Eulia), Jordi Granada
(­Straddle3)
Completion: 2019
Area: 816 m2
Use: Temporary accommodation for
people in need of shelter

21 Straddle3, Eulia Arkitektura, Yaiza Terré

Old Containers, New Use

APROP Housing for People
in Need

In Barcelona’s inner-city neighbourhoods, rents are steadily rising.

Vacation units and luxury apartments have become a lucrative busi-
ness, causing affordable housing to disappear. Through the Aprop
programme, the city aims to address this crisis by providing temporary
housing for people who have become homeless. The first Aprop build-
ing is located in the Gothic Quarter of Ciutat Vella (Old Town), on a cor-
ner lot enclosed by firewalls. It is based on a building system designed
by Straddle3 in collaboration with Jon Begiristain and Yaiza Terré that
enables the city to respond to the demand for temporary housing at
short notice. In the spirit of circular construction, old shipping contain-
ers are reused as room modules, extending their useful life beyond the 231
usual ten years. Buildings based on this modular system can be quickly
assembled and reassembled in a new constellation at a different location.
The 12 shipping containers are mounted, as if on a table, atop a
steel support structure anchored in the ground by micropiles. One of the
topmost containers holds the building services. A twist-lock system com-
monly used on ships, freight trains, and trucks is used to connect the con-
tainers with the supporting structure. The structure’s columns and beams
allow for an open floor plan on the ground floor, currently occupied by a
nearby healthcare facility. Each of the four levels above that consists of two
one-bedroom dwellings and one two-bedroom dwelling. A single container
is used for the smaller units for singles and couples, measuring around
30 m2. Two containers are connected to create 60 m2 two-room apartments
for families of up to four people. On the southeast side, which opens onto a
small courtyard with a stair tower and elevator, the dwellings are connected
by covered walkways. On the northwest side, narrow loggias with vertical
floor-to-ceiling openings look onto a small square. This gives each residen-
tial unit at least two external walls for good cross-ventilation. Additional
daylight is provided to the two-room apartments through windows on the
southeast side.
Difficult soil conditions and the narrow, busy alleys in the historic
city centre posed a challenge during construction. To avoid blocking ­traffic,
85 % of the individual elements were assembled at a workshop. Construc-
tion time was minimal: it took less than two days to erect the basic struc-
ture, with residents moving in just four months later. bz

232 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Site plan Scale 1:2500

○
21 APROP Housing for People in Need Straddle3, Eulia Arkitektura, Yaiza Terré 233
 Recycled shipping containers are ­polycarbonate. Despite the low-cost
­concealed behind a double-skin facade materials, the building exudes a sense
234 AT HOME IN THE CITY of weatherproof plasterboard and of high quality and good design.
 8

5
5 7
6 7
6

5 7
6

5
6 7

Floors 1– 4
b

a b a
3

2 1
4

Ground floor

a b a
3
Sections, floor plans Scale 1:250 1 Inner courtyard 4 Medical 7 Two-room unit
2 Lobby ­practice / shop 8 Single-room
3 Reception 2 5 Living
1 / dining unit
6 Kitchen

aa bb

○
21 APROP Housing for People in Need Straddle3, Eulia Arkitektura, Yaiza Terré 235
 Client: Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge i Carrer de Parellada 9, Sant Andreu
Rehabilitació, Ajuntament de Barcelona 🌐 fabraicoats.bcn.cat
Structural design: Bernuz-Fernández #FabraiCoats_Centredart
arquitectes
Completion: 2019
Area: 5,392 m2
Use: Social housing, temporary artist
housing, sports hall

22 Roldán + Berengué

Factory for Creatives

Fabra i Coats Apartments

The former textile factory Fabra i Coats is the size of a small village.
Some 3,000 people worked there in its heyday, spinning yarn and
thread. Now the creative scene has moved into many of its old halls
and buildings – including a two-storey block measuring 100 x 14 me-
tres that borders the high property wall to the south. Built in 1905, the
former warehouse now holds 41 social housing units for young people,
plus five temporary apartments for artists. Recreational spaces are
also part of the complex, including a four-storey hall offering space for
a local club to practice the Catalan national sport of castellets, in which
teams of around 20 men, women, and children form a human tower.
The architects’ goal was to preserve the character of the ex-
isting buildings as faithfully as possible. Designed for reversibility, 237
all of the installations use lightweight construction and are modular and
self-supporting without directly connecting to or interfering with the his-
torical structure. The timber dwelling modules extend over four floors in
what was once a two-storey block. They are set back from the old thick
brick wall on both sides, creating a four-storey air space facing the street
that doubles as a climate buffer. The side facing the courtyard has covered
walkways that serve less as a circulation area but act more like a catwalk,
a liminal zone between inside and outside. It also functions somewhat like
a shop window, offering a clear view through the former factory’s large
windows, whose glass has now been replaced by a thin wire mesh. Neigh-
bours’ conversations are audible in the hallway, along with the clatter of
keys when residents open the door to their apartments. Metal grilles pro-
tect against intruders and provide fall protection while allowing fresh air to
sweep through the building. Inside the dwellings, the architects installed
sturdy security grilles in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing bur-
glar-proof cross-ventilation even when no one is home.
The central meeting point in the building is the open hall, which
reaches up to the roof and widens dramatically towards the top. Inside and
outside, old and new, tenants and visitors meet in this space, and where
the building opens up to the city through a gap in the property wall. The
creative quarter invites people from the neighbourhood to explore its evo-
lution on the former factory premises. An art gallery has already settled in,
joining the artist studios and workshops. Exhibitions, festivals, and events
take place regularly. However, a considerable number of old factory build-
ings are waiting to be filled with life again after many years of vacancy. hw

238 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Site plan Scale 1:5000

○
22 Fabra i Coats Apartments Roldán + Berengué 239
 dd

Section, floor plans Scale 1:750 1 Main entrance 3 Rear entrance 5 Dwelling 56 m2
a
2 Hall 4 Activity hall 6 Void

a
6 6
4
2

Third floor

c b 1

2
d d
4 5 5

3
c b

Ground floor

Ground floor original building

240 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Sections Scale 1:500 aa Original bb Timber dwelling cc Steel activity
­structure units hall

Timber dwelling units for young people two-storey structure. This will prevent
and artists extend over four floors. The damage to the historic fabric during
modules are ­separated from the original ­dismantling.

○
22 Fabra i Coats Apartments Roldán + Berengué 241
242 AT HOME IN THE CITY
○
22 Fabra i Coats Apartments Roldán + Berengué 243
 Client: Cooperativa La Borda Carrer de la Constitució 85–89,
Structural design: Miguel Nevado Sants-Monjuïc
Completion: 2018 🌐 laborda.coop
Area: 3,000 m2 @bordacoop
Use: Housing cooperative,
organic food store

23 Lacol

Collective Living Pioneer

La Borda Housing
­Cooperative

Anyone strolling along Carrer de la Costitució in the Sants district would

hardly expect to find an innovative residential building behind the win-
dowless facade of corrugated acrylic panels at number 85. From 2012
to 2018, its residents worked with the architecture collective Lacol to
develop the housing cooperative La Borda. What sparked the project
was the question of how to create long-term affordable housing in a
tight housing market that eventually crashed. After numerous partic-
ipatory workshops with the neighbourhood and potential residents,
the members of Lacol were able to win over the city, which granted
them the property on a ground lease. The project also marks the first
time in Barcelona that a supporting structure made of cross-laminated 245
timber (CLT) was realized on such a large scale, and that bicycle parking
was chosen over an underground car park.
An organic food co-op on the ground floor and a two-storey public
passageway to the new neighbourhood park in the courtyard lend to the
building’s inviting aura despite its minimalist street facade. The true face
of the building is the south facade facing the park. In summer, the sun
blinds hang over the continuous balconies like one large wooden curtain. In
winter, residents can enjoy the warmth of the low-lying sun. Only the larger
of the 28 apartments face south, while the smaller dwellings on the fourth
and fifth floors face north with their ribbon windows. Despite the absence
of a balcony on these levels, they remain pleasantly cool in summer.
As compensation, all residents have access to numerous collec-
tive spaces and outdoor areas. The main communication space is the
seven-storey hall. Neither heated nor insulated, it keeps a pleasant tem-
perature even in winter. An acrylic glass greenhouse roof opens wide for
ventilation and smoke extraction. Generous bicycle parking is available on
the hall’s ground floor and leads through the open communal kitchen and
a multipurpose room to a terrace overlooking the public park.
Covered walkways providing access to the apartments on the upper
floors wrap around the space like boxes in a theatre. Located directly be-
hind the translucent acrylic glass facade, a double-height open space on
the north side can be used as a stage for events. During the day, children
can zoom around this multifunctional piano nobile in their go-carts. A row
of washing machines lines the wall; they will be partitioned off later into a
utility room once the cooperative has enough funds. Located next to the
photovoltaic system at the top of the building is a green meadow where
residents can relax and take in the view across the rooftops to the nearby
hill of Monjuïc. fk

246 AT HOME IN THE CITY

 1

1
2

4
3

4
3
5 6

5 6

Site plan Scale 1:5000 1 La Borda 3 Common 5 Cooperative

2 Planned: ­garden school
Car repair, 4 Library, meeting 6 Social services
­kindergarten, rooms, climbing
storage, wall
­brewery, art
space

○
23 La Borda Housing Cooperative Lacol 247
The common room with the kitchen Workshops, a daycare centre, a brewery,
overlooks the development area of and spaces for art and artists will be
the former factory site of Can Batlló. built here.

248 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:500 1 Public access 3 Hall, bicycles 5 Utility room 7 Office, staff,
to park 4 Common room, 6 Cooperative shop
2 Entrance kitchen grocery store 8 Dwelling

8 8
8 8 8 8
8

First floor Second floor

7 6
1

3
2

Ground floor aa

○
23 La Borda Housing Cooperative Lacol 249
250 AT HOME IN THE CITY
○
23 La Borda Housing Cooperative Lacol 251
Eliseu Arrufat and Carles Baiges of Lacol in conversation with Heide Wessely

Working
Together to
Shape the
City

BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010 253

Ten years ago, a group of young architects came together to form the Lacol coop-
erative. In 2022, they received the EUmies Award for Emerging Architects for their
cooperative apartment building La Borda. Eliseu Arrufat and Carles Baiges represent
the collective of 13 members. They have their office in the Sants neighbourhood at La
Comunal, a former factory that they converted into a small cultural quarter. That, too,
is organized as a cooperative.

You integrate users into your many ideas with people from the area
planning processes as long-term and decided to organize ourselves as
partners. Why is this such a funda- a collective. This dialogue played a
mental aspect of your approach? central role for us from the begin-
Carles Baiges: Before we moved ning, and we believe it allows us
here three years ago, we had our to make our work more effective,
practice in an old store around social, and sustainable.
the corner for ten years. We were still
students when we first started out. The citizens of Barcelona are very
The street in front of the store even- active in urban development
tually became a pedestrian zone, and issues. Why do you think that the
passers-by could see us working people here are so involved?
through the windows. That brought CB: In some areas, the community is
us into contact with people from the so engaged because of its strong
neighbourhood, who asked us many connection to the factories in the
questions and for advice. They also past; the workers formed unions and
asked us about the Can Batlló factory joined left-leaning political parties.
site, which had been closed, and Back then, the labour conditions at
which the people of Sants wanted the factories and the workers’ overall
back. The district is known for its quality of life were miserable. People
cooperatives, non-profit associations, had to organize to fight for improve-
and squatter scene. We exchanged ments. There is a tradition of self-or-

254 AT HOME IN THE CITY

 ganization, and this spirit is still very During the Spanish Civil War,
much alive. Today they say: “The city many political prisoners were held
won’t give us a music school? All at La Model, a prison from the
right, then we’ll build it ourselves.” early 20th century. You worked
And to do so, they form community with the community to develop a
associations, cooperatives, or clubs. programme for its reuse – how
Eliseu Arrufat: Another reason may did that work out?
be that during the civil war that CB: In 2018, the city council asked us
raged here from 1936 to 1939, people to talk with local residents to deter-
had to manage things on their own mine their needs, and the results
for two years when there was no city became the basis for the master plan.
administration or government. The prison was only closed in 2017,
Maybe it’s a romantic view, but I which made its reuse a very emotion-
think it influenced the urban popula- al undertaking. Some of the people
tion’s cohesion and assertiveness. imprisoned there during the Civil

Lacol members stand on the balcony at Carles Baiges is in the back row in the
the cultural quarter La Comunal, where middle; Eliseu Arrufat stands to his right.
the architecture collective has its office.

Eliseu Arrufat and Carles Baiges of Lacol in conversation with Heide Wessely 255
 War were friends or family members But because no other sports facility
of people in the neighbourhood. exists in the area, this decision was
There were many proposals, from made from the top.
total demolition to 100 percent
preservation. We formed working What were the community dis-
groups to discuss the various cussions like? What kinds of
­possibilities – demolition, green people came, and how did you
spaces, conservation, sports, you organize these meetings?
name it – and ended up with 23 main CB: Anyone could attend the open
themes that were important to peo- meetings. We also invited around
ple. For the most part, everyone 40 organizations working in historic
agreed; three or four needed further preservation, sustainability, architec-
discussion. The city intervened in ture, etc. In order to involve young
one case only: it pushed through a people – that was very important to
large sports facility, even though us – we made inquiries in schools.
residents wanted a smaller one. Every day there was a different

256 AT HOME IN THE CITY

 block of topics up for discussion. ­ rocess is often more complex. For
p
We set up tables in the rooms of the the cooperative housing we develop,
former prison where everyone the people involved usually have a
could sit down and talk. On some similar mindset, which is a big ad-
days, we had around 100 people; vantage. Nevertheless, we still have
nearly 300 people took part alto­ to moderate the working groups so
gether. that no one strays too far from the
topic. For example, if it’s about
How did you coordinate 300 ­materials, the discussion needs to
people? Doesn’t that end in end- stick to that and not address colours
less discussions? as well. We ensured that everyone
CB: With La Model, it wasn’t so focused on one topic – only at the
difficult because the topics were end were the results presented to the
very open and didn’t require going larger group.
into much detail. When addressing
­specific construction tasks, the Nevertheless, there is certainly
not always consensus; how do
you reconcile different interests?
EA: We have gained much experi-
ence in listening to different voices:
“During the civil war, the individuals, the neighbourhood, poli-
­townspeople had to manage tics, professional planners, and
female colleagues. We are very open.
things on their own for two On the other hand, setting boundar-
years – that leaves its mark.” ies in the process is vital. At what
point are we no longer willing to
negotiate? What do we find unac-
ceptable? Sometimes we must take
people aside and speak with them
individually if they are unwilling to
compromise. Group behaviour is
fascinating because the roles often
change when someone leaves the
group. A new dynamic develops, and
suddenly you’re moving forward
again.

What do you think of Decidim,

the open-source platform for
citizen participation, which was
developed in Barcelona and
launched in 2016?

Eliseu Arrufat and Carles Baiges of Lacol in conversation with Heide Wessely 257
 La Model was a penitentiary built in the the former prison wing to discuss the
early 20th century and was only closed in future use of the historic site.
2017. Community members gathered in

258 AT HOME IN THE CITY

 CB: In principle, Decidim is great need to change anything. The danger
– numerous institutions, cities, and is that the climate debate will further
countries are now using it. In the deepen social divides. The wealthy
field of architecture or urban plan- are better positioned to demand and
ning, however, it’s a challenge to use implement more environmentally
because you can’t work with it visual- sustainable measures in the city. It
ly. We do a lot of projects for the city, also doesn’t help that you need a
and they all must go through Decid- college degree to apply for govern-
im. To do this, we need to be able to ment funding for solar panels be-
upload plans, images, and graphics so cause the application process is so
that citizens can participate online. complicated.
But that does not work well techni-
cally. Having discussions online How do you see your city overall
without showing models or plans in terms of sustainability?
doesn’t work. As a tool, it is much CB: Barcelona is a highly dense city.
better suited for transparency pur- In terms of sustainability, that can be
poses or to track the progress of a considered a positive thing because
project. That can be represented in less area is sealed overall. But there
numbers and percentages. are also disadvantages, such as the
lack of green spaces and poor air
What role does politics play in quality. The city is ambivalent in
your work? many ways. Superblocks, for exam-
EA: Our left-leaning government ple, return urban space to pedestri-
makes many things easier because it ans, but without careful planning,
focuses more on social needs. Citizen they simply divert traffic to other
participation, for example, is a good streets. Architectural improvements
thing, but it is also important to have often lead to gentrification. And
more social justice in urban planning. while tourism draws money into the
Climate change, which has been city, it drives up rents. Improving the
highly noticeable here in the last two city in a socially responsible way is a
summers, is accelerating how we balancing act – we must confront
think about things. But we have this repeatedly in our work.
noticed that this change in thinking
often does not consider social as-
pects. For example, we are refurbish-
ing 1970s apartment blocks outside ○↪

Barcelona in a very low-income area. ○

2 La
 Comunal
Given today’s high energy costs, the p. 032
buildings need to be more energy ○
23 La
 Borda
efficient. But the residents don’t trust p. 244
the experts, and they don’t trust the ○
24 La
 Balma
government. They often don’t see the p . 260

Eliseu Arrufat and Carles Baiges of Lacol in conversation with Heide Wessely 259
 Client: Sostre Cívic Carrer Espronceda 131–135, Sant Martí
Structural design: Miguel Nevado 🌐 sostrecivic.coop
Completion: 2017 #sostrecivic
Area: 2,348 m2 @sostrecivic
Use: Housing cooperative,
guest apartment, retail shops

24 Lacol, La Boqueria

Progressive Timber Living

La Balma Housing
­Cooperative

For decades, the property at the corner of Camí Antic de Valencia and
Carrer d’Espronceda went undeveloped. It was only once the real es-
tate bubble burst that it came to the city council’s attention and was
awarded to the winner of Barcelona’s inaugural competition for hous-
ing cooperatives. To win the bid, the Sostre Cívic cooperative teamed
up with architects from Lacol and La Boqueria. Together they devel-
oped a cost-effective, space-efficient building and use concept for
the La Balma housing cooperative – with flexible floor plans, a guest
apartment, neighbourhood shops, and a supporting structure made
of solid timber. They also developed a resource-saving energy con-
cept with a geothermal heat pump and wall heating using clay radiant 261
heating panels. The architects used building information modelling (BIM)
to optimize the cross-laminated timber (CLT) shell. They also involved the
future residents in the participatory design process, working together on
individual dwelling layouts at a series of workshops. According to personal
preferences, the bedrooms are oriented to the east or west, facing either
the covered access balconies or the opposite facade.
The cubic structure confidently occupies the corner of the block
and almost seems like a natural continuation of the adjacent school to the
north. The ground-floor base is robustly designed with walls and supports
in raw concrete, separated by shop windows along the street side. Access
to the 20 dwellings and the ground-level common room, which features a
community kitchen, is along a covered staircase, which is separated from
the neighbouring park by metal grating.
Incisions of varying widths and depths bring diversity and openness
to the facades of the residential floors. On the first three floors, the ac-
cess balconies serve as a buffer zone to the noisy Carrer d’Espronceda.
Beginning on the fourth floor, the walkways were moved around the corner
to the long side of the building on the west, with a view of the sun setting
over the school. Not only do they provide access to the dwellings, they
serve as a communication zone for residents and create an outdoor area
in front of each unit. Windows on opposite sides of the units ensure nat-
ural cross-ventilation eliminating the need for mechanical cooling. From
the ground-floor entrance area, the open staircase and elevator lead past
common spaces for yoga and co-working, a guest apartment, and a com-
munal bathroom with a bathtub for residents who find the shower in their
own apartment insufficient. The largest common area is the roof terrace,
which covers the entire building and can be retrofitted with shading roofs
made of photovoltaic panels. This area compensates for the narrow strip
of garden on the ground floor.
Traditional facade elements in the form of bright red sunblinds lend
the innovative apartment building not only local colour but also Mediter-
ranean charm. They animate the building’s appearance, with some of the
blinds partly rolled up, hanging vertically or draped at an angle over the
balconies. fk

262 AT HOME IN THE CITY

In the context of public facilities such public ­­character. Shop windows between
as hospitals, kindergartens, and the massive concrete pillars open up to
schools, housing should also have a passers-by.

○
24 La Balma Housing ­Cooperative Lacol, La Boqueria 263
264 AT HOME IN THE CITY
 11 12 12 13

Section, floor plans Scale 1:500 1 Entrance area 5 Communal 9 Shop 12 Dwelling
2 Common room courtyard 10 Co-working/ 48.50 m2
3 Kitchen 6 Storage ­yoga/guest 13 Dwelling 61 m2
4 Grey water
10 7 Trash room 14 Communal
8 Geothermal 11 Dwelling 73 m2 ­terrace
heating

a
14
6 14

7 8 9 9
14
14

Rooftop
1 2 3
4

aa
a

11 12 13
11 12 13

11 12 13
11 12 13

Floors 4–5

11 12 12 13
11 12 12 13

11 12 12 13
11 12 12 13
10
10

10
10
Floors 1–3

a
a
6
6 7 8 9 a 9
a
7 8 9 9
6
6 7 8 9 9
7 8 9 9
1 2 3
4
1 2 3
4
5
1 2 3
52 4
1 3
4
Ground floor a
5
a
5

○
24 La Balma Housing ­Cooperative Lacol, La Boqueria a
a
265
Floor plans Scale 1:200 The floor plans at La Balma allow for the walkway. The one- to three-room
various expansion options, such as a apartments range in size from 48.50 to
separately ­accessible bedroom from 73 m2.

266 AT HOME IN THE CITY

○
24 La Balma Housing ­Cooperative Lacol, La Boqueria 267
268 AT HOME IN THE CITY
○
24 La Balma Housing ­Cooperative Lacol, La Boqueria 269
 Client: lnstituto Metropolitano de Carrer Baldiri Net i Figueres 5–7, Sant Boi
­Promoción de Suelo, Àrea Metropolitana de Llobregat
de Barcelona
Structural design: Manuel Arguijo
Completion: 2019
Area: 12,500 m2
Use: Social/private housing, retail,
shops, restaurant

25 Estudio Herreros, MIM-A

Monument to Urban
­Living
Caracol Residential Building

Caracol – meaning snail – is the name of this formidable apartment

block in the northwest of Barcelona. Despite its lack of resemblance to
a snail, the view through the large openings at the front of the building
does have a similar effect to a snail shell by sparking our curiosity about
its interior. Here, hidden elements peek through: a sizeable pink court-
yard interspersed with greenery, lined with access balconies and meet-
ing areas. The courtyard is the heart of the social life in this residential
building, where neighbours meet on communal terraces and where
everyone goes to access their dwellings. Because the development
plan did not allow for balconies, the architects simply moved them
inward and made maximum use of the property. Thanks to the inner 271
courtyard, loggias, and angled roof surfaces, they managed to comply
with the maximum allowable floor area. The building is also highly efficient:
a central circulation core holds two elevators and a staircase leading to the
79 apartments on seven floors. This core divides the courtyard into two
parts, which also makes its dimensions more pleasant. The entrance hall,
which slices through the building along a north-south axis, also breaks up
the large volume, which stands with confidence in the newly laid-out park
with its sharp-angled green spaces.
The city, as the property’s former owner, stipulated at the time of
sale that 60 % of the units must be rented out as social housing. The re-
mainder was offered on the open housing market. Open kitchens – a rarity
in Barcelona – give the dwellings a spacious feel. Thanks to the double-sid-
ed layouts, windows on opposite sides of each apartment ensure bright
and airy spaces. Both the subsidized and freely financed apartments are
similarly outfitted, with only minor differences in the quality of the surfaces
– the result of a conscious decision to downplay differences in the renters’
social status.
It took ten years between winning the competition in 2009 and
completing the building, with planning changes and the real estate crisis
delaying construction. The clear, simple supporting structure was able to
accommodate the redesign of 100 very small apartments into what are
now 79 somewhat bigger units, with no changes to the circulation con-
cept. The strict grid is distinguished on the facade by equally wide green
bands of fibre cement panels. In between, sliding shutters made of yel-
low-painted slats and plaster surfaces in various shades of green create
a cheerful outer appearance. Retail shops and a restaurant have taken
up residence on the ground floor, enlivening the urban space outside the
residential complex as well. Caracol now stands proudly at the intersection
of a commercial district and a perimeter block development – a monument
to urban living. hw

272 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Site plan Scale 1:5000

○
25 Caracol Residential Building Estudio Herreros, MIM-A 273
 10
9 9
10

10
9 9
10

10 9 9

Sixth
10 floor 9 9
5
7 6

5
7 6

10 9 9

5 8
7 6

5 5
8 5
7 6

5 5
b
First floor 5
7 6
1
8
b

5 5 1
a a
3 2 2 3 5
7 6

a b a
3 2 2 3
4 4
1
1

b
4 4
1
a a
3 2 2 3
b
Ground floor

274 AT HOME IN THE CITY 4 4

1
The massive structure is surprisingly
­permeable: north-south through the
­entrance hall and east-west through
the loggias on the upper floors.

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:500 1 Entrance hall, café, double-­ 5 Open kitchen 9 Void
apartments height with 6 Bedroom 10 Private roof
2 Passage mezzanine 7 Children’s room terrace
3 Restaurant / 4 Trash room 8 Shared walkway

aa bb

○
25 Caracol Residential Building Estudio Herreros, MIM-A 275
276 AT HOME IN THE CITY
○
25 Caracol Residential Building Estudio Herreros, MIM-A 277
 Client: Private Carrer de Pujades 251, Sant Martí
Structural design: Bernuz-Fernández
Arquitecte
Completion: 2019
Area: 912 m2 + 177 m2 terrace
Use: Residential

26 Lola Domènech, Lussi Studio

Home for Four Couples

Apartment Building

Swiss architect Thomas Lussi teamed up with three couples, who

are his friends, to design a new home for them all in Barcelona. In
the Poblenou district, they found a 6 x 30 metre plot in Cerdà’s grid
of block developments. Together with the Barcelona-based architect
Lola Domènech, the group developed a building with five apartments.
An architecture practice and co-working space share the commercial
space on the ground floor. Common areas were a priority, with places
for everyone to sit and eat together in the courtyard and a swimming
pool for all on the rooftop terrace. The staircase on the long side of
the building is flanked by ceramic lattices, which draw sunlight into the
circulation zone and ensures constant, natural ventilation. 279
Large wooden folding shutters can be closed to help keep temperatures
cool inside the dwellings while animating the exterior. A terrace at both
ends of each unit bridges the space between the glass fronts and the
louvred shutters; this serves as a thermal buffer in addition to creating a
private outdoor zone overlooking the street or courtyard. Tall glass sliding
doors open to let cool air sweep through each apartment’s long hallway. A
cabinet wall runs along its length, providing residents with ample storage
space, becoming a built-in kitchen in the combined dining/living area.
This room at the back is the largest in each unit and faces the courtyard.
In designing the interiors, the architects sought to establish a dialogue
between the various materials. Brick, poured concrete floors, untreated
wood fixtures, and anthracite lime plaster walls harmonize for a sensual
and relaxed atmosphere.
A heating and cooling system with underfloor heating and an inte-
grated air conditioning system powered by an air source heat pump en-
sures a pleasant indoor climate throughout the year. Along with measures
such as the double outer walls and well insulated facades and roof, the
apartment building meets passive house standards. hw

280 AT HOME IN THE CITY

○
26 Apartment Building Lola Domènech, Lussi Studio 281
 8

4 7

Rooftop

4 5 6 4

First floor

2 1 3

a a
Ground floor

Section, floor plans Scale 1:250 1 Entrance 3 Architecture 4 Terrace 6 Bedroom

2 Inner courtyard practice/co- 5 Kitchen/dining/ 7 Pool
working space living 8 Shower

GSPublisherVersion 0.98.100.98

GSPublisherVersion 0.98.100.98

GSPublisherVersion 0.98.100.98

282 AT HOME IN THE CITY

aa

○
26 Apartment Building Lola Domènech, Lussi Studio 283
 Neither inside nor outside – folding animate the facade while allowing the
shutters along the terrace provide Mediterranean breeze to sweep through
­privacy and shade. The wooden shutters the dwellings.

284 AT HOME IN THE CITY

○
26 Apartment Building Lola Domènech, Lussi Studio 285
 Client: Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge i Carrer d’Alí Bei 100–102, Eixample
Rehabilitació, Ajuntament de Barcelona
Structural design: Manuel Arguijo y Aso-
ciados
Completion: 2020
Area: 6,020 m2
Use: Social housing for older adults,
temporary apartments for mothers in
need

Arquitectura Produccions, Pau Vidal,

27 Vivas Arquitectos

Active Living for Seniors

Alí Bei Social Housing

The view from this social housing complex is spectacular – instead of

a narrow backyard, residents of the seven-storey apartment building
can look out onto a vast green sports field bordered by staggered rows
of colourful seats. Behind it, a park provides even more greenery, and
only then does the city begin again. Although the apartment building
is located in the heart of the strictly gridded district of Eixample, much
of this urban block is undeveloped. There are historical reasons for this:
a railway line to the nearby Estació Nord station once ran along the
space now occupied by the community soccer field. The area around
that is also dedicated to sports.
The two sides of the building, so different in terms of their set-
ting, also determine the facades. Towards the street, the new residential 287
complex closes the gap between two modernista townhouses. Balconies
arranged in a checkerboard fashion above an exposed concrete plinth have
a clear, rational effect and create a visual bridge between old and new.
The checkerboard theme reappears on the other side of the building as
well, but as recessed loggias. A double-height glass corner at the top right
interrupts the grid, hinting at the special use inside, where a community
room and laundry facility serve the senior residents. The building maintains
just a little distance from its neighbours, with just one metre on the left
and a little over three metres on the right. On this side, a lattice staircase,
visible from the urban space, leads upwards, providing access and serving
as an informal meeting place and viewing platform. Visual permeability
plays a central role throughout the building. Even the large glass entrance
doors provide a view that penetrates the building, reaching across a green
courtyard and through the glazed common areas.
The ground floor is divided into two sections, indicated by differ-
ently designed entrances: one made entirely of glass, the other fronted
by a solid, protective grille. The latter provides access to ten temporary
dwellings for mothers and their children; the different-sized units are dis-
tributed across two levels. A dedicated group kitchen, dining room, and
recreation room for the women and children are on the ground floor. Unfor-
tunately, those apartments were still empty as of November 2022 because
of the slow-moving bureaucracy. In contrast, all 49 subsidized units for
senior ­citizens are long since occupied. Ranging from about 40 to 45 m2 in
size, they are designed for self-sufficient couples; a regular staff of social
workers can provide some support. Residents also benefit from a number
of common areas: a lounge on the ground floor and fifth floor, as well as
a spacious roof terrace with fitness equipment and raised garden beds
for growing herbs. From this vantage point, the seniors can relax on the
comfortable lounge furniture while watching youth play sports on the field
below. hw

288 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Site plan Scale 1:8000

○
27 Alí Bei Social Housing Arquitectura Produccions, Pau Vidal, Vivas Arquitectos 289
 8

First floor
aa

1 3 10 12

9
2

6
5
11

a a
4

Sixth floor
Ground floor

Section, floor plans Scale 1:500 1 Entrance for 4 Entrance for 7 Temporary 10 Laundry
seniors mothers dwellings for 11 Common roof
2 Reception 5 Help centre for mothers in need terrace with
3 Common room, mothers 8 Social workers fitness rooms
seniors 6 Kitchen, dining, 9 Dwellings for 12 Void
lounge, mothers seniors

290 AT HOME IN THE CITY

○
27 Alí Bei Social Housing Arquitectura Produccions, Pau Vidal, Vivas Arquitectos 291
 Senior residents can look out of their gather on the roof terrace, which is open
windows to watch football matches on to all residents.
292 AT HOME IN THE CITY the field below. More spectators can
○
27 Alí Bei Social Housing Arquitectura Produccions, Pau Vidal, Vivas Arquitectos 293
 Coll-Leclerc enhanced the area north income residents live in the building’s
of the Barcelona Forum with their 42 dwellings in this city-initiated social
294 AT HOME IN THE CITY ­apartment building from 2008. Low-­ housing ­project.
Housing
and
Politics
Jelena Prokopljević

BARCELONA Urban ­Architecture and Community Since 2010 295

What remedies does Barcelona have to overcome its housing shortage? The history of
housing policy in the Catalan capital has several chapters and just as many measures.
Interventions to expand the city have inscribed themselves in the cityscape and can
still be seen today. Where does the city stand now, and what conditions has it created
to enable affordable housing and improve quality of life?

Efforts to overcome housing shortages have shaped contemporary

Barcelona since the first industries settled in the old town and expand-
ed to the surrounding municipalities. In 1860, the neighbourhood of
Eixample expanded the city according to plans by Ildefons Cerdà, with
the aim of providing healthy housing for all, with functional floor plans
and large, open spaces. However, the open-block structure was soon
densified through private construction, resulting in the loss of many
of the development’s initial qualities. Workers flocking to the city were
unable to afford the available housing, which drove efforts to resolve
the issue in the 1920s. La Ley de las Casas Baratas (Cheap Houses Act)
from that time served as the basis for the construction of subsidized
housing estates around the periphery, such as Bon Pastor in the north-
east, where hundreds of single-storey row homes were constructed,
each with 40 m2 of living space and a small front garden. However, the
new residential quarter did not provide for infrastructure such as retail
shops, cafés, doctors’ offices, schools, community centres, or public
spaces.

Functionalism and social interaction

The socialist government of the Second Republic (1931–1939) laid the
foundations for extensive public investment in housing, healthcare,
and education. One major innovation offered in response to this ini-
tiative was provided by the functionalist Group of Architects and
Technicians for Promotion of Contemporary Architecture (GATCPAC),
who designed a new housing typology incorporating public spaces and
community services. Their Casa Bloc, designed in 1932, provided 207
social dwellings for working-class families. The S-shaped, five-floor
complex frames two courtyards, with public facilities such as a library,
kindergarten, and retail shops and duplex apartments accessed by
covered walkways doubling as places of social interaction.

296 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Built in 1932, the Casa Bloc (bottom) working families. Bon Pastor (top) con-
by the GATCPAC architecture group, sists of single-storey terraced homes
features 207 subsidized dwellings for with only 40 m2 of living space each. 297
 After an extended economic downturn, the government resumed
widespread construction of public housing from the late 1950s into the
1970s. These new large-scale developments were located on the city’s
outskirts or in neighbouring industrial towns. Thousands of affordable
two- and three-room rental apartments were rented with the option of
deferred ownership. Large slabs and high-rises transformed the urban
skyline – but a lack of investment in public spaces, cultural buildings,
and educational facilities led to the formation of vertical slums. This
prompted the mobilization of the first grassroots neighbourhood as-
sociations.

Individual concepts are pursued instead of the usual

top-down design that determines who uses which
space and how. Communal ownership allows for some
flexibility in dwelling sizes.

With the transition from dictatorship to democracy in the late

1970s, urban planning and construction responsibilities were trans-
ferred from the state government in Madrid to the municipalities.
Subsidies for housing construction, however, continued to come
from the capital – often in inadequate amounts. Municipal housing
companies therefore took out considerable loans to build apart-
ments for sale or rent at favourable rates. Selling was preferred be-
cause profits could be funnelled into much-needed public spaces
and facilities. The action plan “Barcelona dels Barris” (Barcelona of
Neighbourhoods) advocated an approach linking urban and archi-
tectural scales, public and private space, and long- and short-term
projects. Many of the residential buildings completed around the
1992 Olympic Games exemplified this new approach.

Demand regulates price

The economic boom of the early 2000s caused the demand for
housing to rise – and so did the prices. The growing immigrant
population was particularly affected, with little access to housing
on the free rental market. While low interest rates stoked the in-
terest of private investors in the real estate market, public sector

298 AT HOME IN THE CITY

 officials sought to provide affordable rental housing to low-income
families, launching a series of public competitions calling for inno-
vative solutions for communal spaces and infill housing. The apart-
ment block by Coll-Leclerc near the Barcelona Forum and EMBT
Architects’ senior housing at Santa Caterina market illustrate how
housing policy can serve as a vehicle of social integration while
improving urban neighbourhoods.
During the economic crisis from 2008 to 2013, housing
prices dropped between 16 percent (rental) and 35 percent (sales).
Although interest rates on construction loans fell to a historic low,
many people were denied credit because they had lost their jobs.
Dwindling tax revenues led to a decline in government investments
pushing public institutions, companies, and banks into debt, forcing
many of them to restructure or foreclose while burdened with vacant
dwellings and unpaid mortgages. Growing tourism and foreign in-
vestment in construction eventually fuelled an economic recovery,
swinging back the pendulum; however, this led to gentrification in
central urban areas. This development prompted the socialist-ori-
ented city government to develop the “Pla pel Dret a l’Habitatge de
Barcelona (Barcelona Right to Housing Plan) 2016–2025” through a
series of participatory processes involving local communities and
focusing on the right to housing for all.

Right to housing
The central aims of the Right to Housing Plan are to expand affordable
housing, improve the quality of existing stock, ensuring the proper
use of rental properties, and facilitating access to those in need of
housing. The Barcelona Social Housing Council (Consell de l’Habitat-
ge Social de Barcelona) and the Municipal Institute of Housing and
Rehabilitation (Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge i Rehabilitació de
Barcelona) manage a network of offices in every city district to deal
with housing issues. The focus is no longer limited to new construc-
tion but encompasses the renovation and repair of existing housing
stock. About 35 percent of Barcelona’s building stock pre-dates
1950, while another 45 percent was built between 1960 and 1990.
Energy efficiency is also being addressed by the urban revitalization
policy, with new mechanisms being implemented to subsidize the
improvement of building envelopes, especially through thermal and
acoustic insulation and solar energy. In addition, some of the vacant
buildings, often owned by banks, will be converted for social uses.
There is economic assistance to help needy families pay their rent,
along with mediation and counselling services to prevent evictions.

Housing and Politics Jelena Prokopljević 299

 Yet despite city regulations requiring 30 percent of newly built housing
to be made available as publicly subsidized rentals, only a small part of
this quota is being fulfilled, and the shortfalls continue to be notice-
able. According to a study by the Arrels Foundation, more than 5,000
people in Barcelona do not have permanent residence, and about
1,200 people are homeless. The right to quality housing, as enshrined
in Article 47 of the Spanish Constitution, is not being met. To do so
would require closer, ongoing cooperation between central and local
administrations, which is still lacking in efficiency.
Recently, an alternative model has emerged to alleviate the
housing shortage: housing cooperatives. Barcelona’s first cooperative
projects date back to the 1920s. They drew more attention during the
housing shortage of the 1970s by providing more equitable and afford-
able access to housing through collective investment in construction.
Similar principles were pursued at the famous Walden 7 apartment

Ricardo Bofill’s Walden 7, completed t­ owers, courtyards, bridges, and plant-

in 1975, offers a unique take on coop­ ers, the striking apartment building is full
300 AT HOME IN THE CITY erative living. Featuring 446 units and of symbolism.
 building by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura (RBTA), which gave fu-
ture residents an opportunity to be part of the design process. Walden
7 is based on 30 m2 modules that can be combined to create apart-
ments of up to 120 m2 on one or two levels.

Cooperative ownership and flexibility

Today’s housing cooperatives are designed with their residents’ uses
in mind and have been removed from the speculative housing market.
Individual concepts are pursued instead of the usual top-down design
that determines who uses which space and how. Communal ownership
allows for some flexibility in dwelling sizes by including intermediate
spaces between the public and private. The cooperative projects La
Borda (p. 244) and La Balma (p. 260) by the Lacol architecture coop-
erative have pursued innovation not only in the design of individual
dwellings but also in the organization of communal and flexible spaces.
The first cooperative housing project based on a 75-year public
land lease was developed through a participatory process led by Sostre
Cívic, an umbrella organization supporting independent housing coop-
eratives. La Xarxaire is located in the neighbourhood of Barceloneta,
close to the beach and the city centre, where the proliferation of tour-
ist accommodations is driving up prices. La Mar D’Arquitectes trans-
formed a 19th-century building into a multifamily residence. Compact
apartments are extended by communal spaces on the ground floor
and roof, where residents can sunbathe, work, play with their children,
or simply meet.
Barcelona’s current left-leaning administration strongly sup-
ports the new grassroots initiatives that are creating affordable, sus-
tainable, and permanent housing solutions in the city. If implemented
on a larger scale, they could replace the ubiquitous real estate specu-
lation with a more democratic model for housing and the city.

Housing and Politics Jelena Prokopljević 301

 Client: lnstituto Metropolitano de Avenida República Argentina 21, Cornellà
­Promoción de Suelo, Àrea Metropolitana de Llobregat
de Barcelona
Structural design: Bernúz Fernández
Arquitectes
Landscape architecture: AB Pasatgistes
Completion: 2020
Area: 2,137 m2
Use: Social housing

28 Peris+Toral Arquitectes

Living in Squares
85 Subsidized Apartments

Cornellà de Llobregat is a low-income suburb with much of its housing

run-down and in disrepair. But Peris+Toral have shown that low-cost
social housing can also be high-quality, sustainable, and innovative.
A quick glance at the floor plans makes their unconventional concept
clear: each floor is divided into squares of equal size, each with an edge
length of 3.60 metres. But what may seem like a strict grid on paper
has a highly differentiated effect as a three-dimensional space.
Most of the dwellings consist of six square modules; the ­corner
units are slightly larger or smaller. The latter are entered through a cir-
culation square directly connected to the staircase cores. The other
apartments are accessed along covered walkways that line the court-
yard. The walkway leads to a lockable gate and a private balcony in front 303
of each apartment, which serves as both an entrance area and a buffer
zone. The rest of the rooms are clustered around a central kitchen. Their
use has been left ambiguous, enabling residents to decide for themselves
where they will live, work, and sleep. Large openings with sliding doors con-
nect the rooms for maximum flexibility. The building concept fills as many
spaces as possible with multiple uses and eliminates hallways inside the
dwellings, achieving a spaciousness that is exceptional in social housing in
Spain, which permits bedrooms to have a minimum size of only 6 m2.
All of the dwellings receive natural light and fresh air from two sides,
making air conditioning systems unnecessary thanks to cross-ventilation.
Steel grating was mounted along the balustrades for shade, coated sil-
ver on the outside to reflect the sun, and anthracite on the inside for a
sense of transparency. Integrated wooden sunblinds, which are common
in Barcelona apartment buildings, can be lowered and raised as needed,
allowing a cooling breeze to sweep along the facade behind them. In addi-
tion to the climate concept, attention was given to sustainability in terms
of the supporting structure, which is made from timber sourced from the
Basque Country. It was designed so that the cross-sections of the sup-
ports would be as small as possible, reducing costs. The balustrades were
also economically conceived; the steel grating was canted several times
for stability, eliminating the need for expensive welding.
Spatial layering is a central theme throughout the structure, with
flowing transitions between the street space, portico, and inner courtyard.
The permeability between public and private areas is also evident when
seen from the outside. The U-shaped base provides space for retail shops,
while plans are underway to establish a movie theatre in the basement,
which residents demanded should replace the old one that previously oc-
cupied the site. However, it remains to be seen when funding will become
available to revive the municipality-run cinema. hw

304 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Site plan Scale 1:8000

○
28 85 Subsidized Apartments Peris+Toral Arquitectes 305
 aa

Section, floor plans, Scale 1:750 1 Cinema 4 Main entrance, 7 Dwelling

(planned) apartments 74.85 m2
2 Underground 5 Dwelling 8 Common roof
parking 60.44 m2 terrace
3 Retail shops 6 Dwelling
(planned) 53.70 m2
5 6 7 8
5 6 7

3
3

4
a a 8
4
a a 8
3
3

1
1

Ground floor Fifth floor

5 6 7

1 2
1 2

4
a 5 6 7 a
5 6 7
3

Base floor Floors 1–4

306 AT HOME IN THE CITY 3

3
 Large openings connect the rooms, of dwelling design provides various
which can be joined or divided into ­ egrees of privacy and communality
d
smaller units by sliding doors. This type as needed.

○
28 85 Subsidized Apartments Peris+Toral Arquitectes 307
308 AT HOME IN THE CITY
○
28 85 Subsidized Apartments Peris+Toral Arquitectes 309
 Client: Universitat Politècnica de Carrer de Pere Serra 1, Sant Cugat del
­Catalunya, CompactHabit, Constructora Vallès
d’Aro 🌐 unihabit.com/en/
Structural design: DSM arquitectes university-residence-sant-cugat
Completion: 2015 @unihabit
Area: 3,101 m2 #unihabit
Use: Residential

29 dataAE, Harquitectes

Modular Living
57 Student Dwellings

The nationally renowned architecture school, Escola Tècnica Superior

d’Architectura del Vallès (ETSAV), is located in Sant Cugat del Vallès,
about 10 km northwest of Barcelona. The ETSAV student dormitory is
located between the university building and the railroad line, nestled in
a topography of gentle hills. The housing complex consists of two op-
posing two-storey wings, with access from the central courtyard. This
elongated, landscaped space serves as a communal area and meeting
space for students. Because of its location on a hillside, neither floor
requires elevators but offers barrier-free accessibility.
The design of the new dormitory is the result of a competition
organized by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). The compe-
tition stipulated the use of a Spanish manufacturer’s precast concrete 311
modular system that had been selected in a previous competitive process.
A further requirement was compliance with the Swiss Minergie standard,
which at the time of construction corresponded to a maximum heating re-
quirement of 38 kWh/m2a. The winning team of DataAE and Harquitectes,
two regional architecture firms, decided to modify the open-ended con-
crete boxes. First, the architects deviated from the standard module size
and chose dimensions of 5 x 11.2 metres – the maximum dimensions for
truck transport. Second, they dispensed with the manufacturer’s original
wall and floor coverings, preferring the unfinished surfaces. These modifi-
cations significantly reduced the cost of materials, freeing up the budget
for improved insulation and wooden windows. The raw appearance also had
architectural reasons: the exposed concrete surfaces of the walls, ceilings,
and floors, together with the black-coated plywood in the bathrooms and
kitchens, work together to create a neutral backdrop, enabling students
to appropriate the spaces and design the interiors according to their own
ideas. Each dwelling measures around 40 m2 and is occupied by one or two
people. Except for the bathroom and open-shelved kitchenette, which are
installed back-to-back in a fixed location, the apartment interiors can be
furnished freely.
The advantages of the modular design not only include low produc-
tion costs, a short construction time of eight months, and easy disassem-
bly. Most of the building components can be reused, and even the facades
were assembled in a dry-build system for circularity. While the cladding
of the enclosed walkways takes up the coated plywood of the interiors,
the more weather-exposed exterior walls are clad in robust galvanized
sheet. Climbing plants will grow along steel cable mesh across the exterior,
providing a better microclimate and interrupting the repetitive perforated
facade with patches of green. jl

312 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Site plan Scale 1:4000 1 Student
­dormitory
2 ETSAV School
of Architecture

○
29 57 Student Dwellings dataAE, Harquitectes 313
aa

bb

Sections, floor plans Scale 1:750 3 Laundry 5 Ground-floor 8 Upper-level

4 Utility room entrance ­entrance
8
6 Reception 9 TV lounge
7 Dwelling unit
9 7

8
7
9 7

First floor

b
5

7
6

a 3 4 a
3

b
5
7
7
65
Ground floor b

a 3 a
314 AT HOME IN THE CITY 3
○
29 57 Student Dwellings dataAE, Harquitectes 315
 Client: Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge i Via Favència 348, Nou Barris
Rehabilitació, Ajuntament de Barcelona
Structural design: Boma, Robert Brufau
Completion: 2011
Area: 8,391 m2
Use: Social housing for older adults

30 Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons, Ricard Galiana

Tower of Good Care

Torre Juliá
Senior Residence

At Torre Júlia, white metal bands are enlivened by patches of bright

­yellow and green. This residential high-rise for senior citizens attracts
attention not only by its colour scheme but also its height. With 17 floors,
it towers above the skyline and draws looks from afar. From the adja-
cent ring road, it has the effect of an artfully designed landmark. The
colours have a purpose: they are intended to make it easier to ­navigate
the tower’s various sections. The three residential communities are
colour-coded: yellow, light green, or dark green, spread over four or
five floors. Each section includes a laundry room and a double-height
common room, which is also visible in the facade with its large window.
The floor plan concept is pragmatic in design, with six apart-
ments on the standard floors on either side of a short, naturally lit
hallway. All units have two rooms so that couples can live together. 317
Electronic fire doors at both ends of the corridors are always open, pro-
viding views of the city. Combined with the ventilation sashes next to the
apartment doors, they allow cross ventilation into the apartments. To avoid
the presence of dark indoor corridors, the stairs are located on the outside
along the facade. The open staircase area doubles as a viewing platform
on the different levels, fostering encounters and communication and en-
couraging more movement in everyday life. Besides the colour-coded ar-
eas residential groups, a specially developed visual guidance system also
aids orientation in the building, with symbols in the elevators indicating the
floors and functional zones. To foster a more personal atmosphere, ab-
stract silhouettes of ­children and older adults adorn walls throughout the
building, while wallpaper patterned in a retro aesthetic is meant to convey
familiarity in the common areas.
A sizeable community room is available to all residents on the
ground floor, along with the generous roof terrace which has become a
popular outdoor meeting place with marvellous views across the city. The
tiny park in front of the building, on the other hand, is less spectacular –
although even here, older residents enjoy the sun and listen to the shrill
whistles and cheers from the adjacent soccer field – though sometimes
the joyful shouts are lost in the traffic noise on the ring road below. A stair-
case and a steep ramp, which is rather unsuitable for people with walkers,
lead down from the park to a square facing away from the road, where
playground equipment is intended to attract children and allow young and
old to meet. A social and intergenerational mix is also encouraged by com-
munal areas on the ground floor, which people from the neighbourhood
are invited to use. hw

318 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Site plan Scale 1:5000 1 Torre Júlia
2 Nursing home
3 Sports centre/
swimming pool

2
1

○
30 Torre Juliá Senior Residence Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons, Ricard Galiana 319
Section, floor plans Scale 1:500 4 Common area 6 Multipurpose 9 Common room 11 Drying room
in base (also room for housing 12 Utility room
external use) 7 Management ­section 13 Roof terrace
5 Reception 8 Apartment unit 10 Laundry

12 13
a a
12
7

Roof top

5
6

10

11

Ground floor Eighth floor

Seventh floor

Base floor Second floor

320 AT HOME IN THE CITY

Colour-coded floors serve as a guidance number along with silhouette figures
system for the senior residents at Torre scattered throughout the building
Juliá. Large ­lettering identifying the floor ­provide additional orientation.

aa

○
30 Torre Juliá Senior Residence Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons, Ricard Galiana 321
322 AT HOME IN THE CITY
○
30 Torre Juliá Senior Residence Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons, Ricard Galiana 323
Appendix

325
Architects

AIA Activitats Arquitectòniques AFF

Architekten
Plaça de Sant Pere 3
08003 Barcelona
🌐 aia.cat
@aia.activitats.instal.lacions ○
8
Arquitectura Anna Noguera Carrer d’Aragó 224, 3º 1ª
08011 Barcelona
🌐 annanoguera.com
@anna.noguera.arquitectura ○
3
Arquitectura Produccions Carrer de Santiago Rusiñol 9,
baixos
🌐 aproduccions.com
@arquitecturaproduccions ○
27
08050 Barcelona

b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos Carrer de Calvet 55

08021 Barcelona
🌐 b720.com
@b720arquitectos ○
1 ○
16
BAAS Arquitectura Montserrat de Casanovas 105
08032 Barcelona
🌐 baas.cat
@baasarquitectura ○
12
Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes Carrer del Camp 64
08022 Barcelona
🌐 bbarquitectes.com
@bb_arquitectes ○
8

Benedetta Tagliabue –
EMBT Architects
Passatge de la Pau 10, bis pral.
08002 Barcelona
🌐 mirallestagliabue.com
@embtarchitects ○
4
dataAE Carrer de Bailèn 28, 2º 1ª
08010 Barcelona
🌐 dataae.com
○
19 ○
29

Espinet / Ubach Carrer del Camp 61, 1º 1ª

08022 Barcelona
🌐 espinet-ubach.com
@espinetubach ○
18

Estudio Herreros Calle de Boix y Morer 6, 8º

28003 Madrid
🌐 estudioherreros.com
@estudioherreros ○
25

Eulia Arkitektura Ulia 252

20013 Donostia-San Sebastian
🌐 eulia.eu
@euliaarkitektura ○
21

Flores & Prats Arquitectes Carrer de Trafalgar 12, 3º 1ª

08010 Barcelona
🌐 floresprats.com
@floresyprats ○
11

Gustau Gili Galfetti Carrer Princesa 16, 2°1

08003 Barcelona
🌐 gustaugili.com
@gustaugiligalfetti ○
8

Harquitectes Carrer de Montserrat 22, 2º 2ª

08201 Sabadell
🌐 harquitectes.com
@harquitectes ○5 ○6 ○
17
○
19 ○
29

○
haz arquitectura Carrer del Robí 33, bajos 1 🌐 hazarquitectura.com
08024 Barcelona @hazarquitectura_barcelona 9
JAAS Passeig de Sant Joan 17–19, 2º 1ª
08010 Barcelona
🌐 jaas.cat
@jaas_architects ○
14
Javier Fernandez Carrer Sant Emili 11
08960 Sant Just Desvern
🌐 j2j.es
@j2jarchitects ○
3
La Boqueria Carrer de la Petxina 4, 1º 1ª
08001 Barcelona
🌐 laboqueria.net
@laboqueriataller ○
24
Lacol Riera d’Escuder 38, 2º 1ª
08028 Barcelona
🌐 lacol.coop
@lacolarq ○
2 ○
23 ○
24

326
Lola Domènech Ronda de Sant Pere 58, 3 3a
08010 Barcelona
🌐 loladomenech.com
@loladomenech_arqt ○
26
Lussi Studio Carrer de Pujades 251, local
08005 Barcelona
🌐 lussistudio.com
@lussistudio ○
26
MIM-A Carrer del Camp 61, 4º 4ª
08022 Barcelona
🌐 mim-a.com
○
25

Oliveras Boix Arquitectes Carrer d’Ausiàs Marc 39, 2º B

08010 Barcelona
🌐 oliverasboix.com
○
13
Pau Vidal Carrer de Pere IV 29–35, 3º 5ª
08018 Barcelona
🌐 pauvidal.eu
○
27 ○
30
Peris+Toral Arquitectes Carrer de Sant Antoni Abat 6,
2º 1ª
🌐 peristoral.com
○
28
08001 Barcelona

Ricard Galiana – RGN Arquitectes Carrer de Francisco Giner 22,

local 2
08012 Barcelona
🌐 ricardgaliana.com
@rgnarchitects ○
30

○
Ricard Mercadé / Aurora Fernández Carrer de Ramon Turró 🌐 mercadefernandez.com
arquitectes ­100–104, 6º 6a @mercadefernandez 15
08005 Barcelona

○
Roldán + Berengué Carrer de Girona 37, 2ª 🌐 roldanberengue.com
08010 Barcelona @roldan.berengue 22
Sergi Godia Arquitecte Carrer del Dr. Fleming 4, 12º 1ª
08017 Barcelona
🌐 sergigodia.net
○7

sergi pons studio Carrer del Penedés 1, bajos

08012 Barcelona
🌐 sergipons-studio.com
○
30

Straddle3 Carrer Riereta 32, 1º 3ª

08001 Barcelona
🌐 straddle3.net
@straddle3 ○
21
SUMO Arquitectes Carrer d’Ausiàs Marc 26, 5º 52
08010 Barcelona
🌐 sumo-arquitectes.com
@sumoarquitectes ○
20

○
Vivas Arquitectos Carrer de Ramón Turró 🌐 vivasarquitectos.com
­100–104, 4º 8ª @vivasarquitectos 27
08005 Barcelona

WMA – Willy Müller Architects Ronda de Sant Pere 58, 2B

08010 Barcelona
🌐 willymullerarchitects.com
○
10

Yaiza Terré Carrer de l’Alzina 21

08024 Barcelona
🌐 yaizaterre.com
@yaizaterre ○
21

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Imprint & Image Credits
Editors Heide Wessely, Sandra Hofmeister
Authors Sabine Drey (sd), Sandra Hofmeister, Rafael Goméz-Moriana (rgm),
Frank Kaltenbach (fk), Lorenzo Kárász, Julia Liese (jl), Jelena Prokopljević,
Heide Wessely (hw), Barbara Zettel (bz)
Interviews Josep Ricart Ulldemolins, Anna Ramos, Carles Baiges & Eliseu Arrufat
Project management Heide Wessely
Editorial team Valerie D’Avis
Copy editing/proofreading Sandra Leitte, Katrin Pollems-Braunfels
Graphic design strobo B M (Matthias Friederich, Luis Schneider, Julian von Klier)
Architectural drawings Lisa Hurler, Barbara Kissinger
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Image Credits: García, Jordi – Fundació Mies 277, 286, 289, 291, 292–293, TerraMetrics, Kartendaten,
Ajuntament de Barcelona, van der Rohe, p. 200 294, 302, 305, 307 top, 307 pp. 6, 16, 122, 222
pp. 40, 258 García, Simón, pp. 94, 97, ­bottom, 308, 309 Viladoms, Pol, pp. 226–227
Ajuntament de Barcelona/ 100–101, 126–127, 156, 182, Institut Municipal de Villalba, Milena, pp. 263, 264
Bayer, Edu, p. 105 185, 187 top, 187 bottom l’Habitatge i Rehabilitació de top, 264 bottom, 267 top, 267
Ajuntament de Barcelona/ Gómez Cuberes, Oriol, p. 260 Barcelona, pp. 250–251 bottom
TAVISA, pp. 84, 106, 109 Gómez-Moriana Rafael p. 106 Lacol – Arquitectura coopera- Wessely, Heide, p. 164
Ajuntament de Barcelona/ bottom tiva, pp. 34, 244, 247 bottom, Xavier Basiana, Jaume
Zambrano, Vincente, p. 44 Goula, Adriá, pp. 60, 63, 64 252, 255 ­Orpinell. Can Batlló, 1997–1998
Akazawa, Baku, pp. 32, 35, 37, top, 64 bottom, 66, 67, 74, 77, Lau, Benjamin, p. 102 Fotografía a las sales de plata
247 top 78–79, 80, 82, 83, 87, 89, 90, Loureiro, Ricardo, pp. 116, 120 e impresión sobre papel
Alamy Stock Photo, p. 12 91, 92–93, 110, 113, 114, 115, Malagamba, Duccio, pp. 20– 85 x 65 cm. Colección ­MACBA.
Author unknown/historical 132, 135, 136 top, 136 bottom, 21, 24, 27, 28, 30–31, 54, 57, 58, Consorcio MACBA., p. 160
picture, p. 176 138, 139 top, 139 bottom, 140, 59, 106
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229, 300 146, 147, 166, 168, 169, 170, 172, Metropoli, Bon Pastor, p. 297 ­ xpress its sincere gratitude
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Cardelús, David, pp. 174, 177, 173, 188, 193 top, 193 bottom, Miralles, Lluc, p. 248 bottom to all those who have assist-
178 top, 178 bottom, 180–181 194–195, 208, 211, 212 top, 212 Nagy, Sebastien, pp. 18–19 ed in the production of this
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49 bottom, 50, 51, 52–53 310, 313 top, 313 bottom, 315 Roldán Berengué arqts., p. 242 All the drawings were special-
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pp. 35, 36, 38–39, 248, 256 162, 224–225, 270, 273, 276, Suzuki, Hisao, pp. 124–125

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