Sant Llorenç

Barcelona, Spain

Photo © José Hevia

Lofts + Interiors

Architects: P-M-A-A

Location: Barcelona, Spain
Year: 2014

This site was declared technically in ruins and the refurbishment was linked to a long-term tenancy agreement.

Only a narrow door and a old passage connect the property to the street. Access from the street to the damaged indoors was provided by a ramp. Originally, the inside of the building was shaped into two square and rectangular separated volumes, which had a unique point of contact with the street through a 45 degree apex-shaped corner. The building embodies the last industrial piece at the bosom of an urban area where a field of orange trees stands out together with 6 modernist houses and some modern buildings.

The project works around the merge of two industrial units to reach an open space illuminated by a west-facing window. The construction of a two-level free volume conditions the organization of a space which is surrounded by a circular flowerpot. Which stands as the only hole in the continuous pavement, which transforms all rooms into equal pieces. The resulting vacuum is used as the container of all activity in the house. There are two perpendicular corridors illuminated by a triangular window that collects light coming through a large window. A gray mass, a single color, that does not determine the pass of time and allows for the whole space to be fully understood.