Courtyard house in Terrassa for a painter and a dancer.
Proposal
The staircase becomes the main point of the layout of the house and leads to the upper floor, where the parlour and terrace/courtyard are. Therefore we go up the noble area avoiding the painting workshop and the bedrooms, which are on the ground floor and the first floor respectively. At the same time an entrance of zenith light is created which lights up the interiors rooms of the housing.
Exterior View (Images Courtesy StarpEstudi)
Architect:H Arquitectes (David Lorente, Josep Ricart, Xavier Ros, Roger Tudó)
Even though the regulations allowed to build ground floor and two floors, the first great decision was to compact the program in two only floors. Thus, the zone shares the ground floor by day with the parking lot that incorporates into the functional program of the house. The second decision was to place the main courtyard in the corner in such a way that the relationship between the living room and the kitchen is produced throw it.. The program of rooms concentrates in the upper floor where one turns up another courtyard that, together with the skylights, allows distributing the pieces without the need for opening up directly in street. The house becomes opaque in the limits, but it expands in its inside.
Located in a pleasant residential neighbourhood, the house is a compact building (almost a cube) surrounded by a 3 meters wide perimeter necessary courtyard, which is the minimum mandatory gap based on current regulations. The pre-existing yard, the swimming-pool and the shed set at the back of the plot are preserved by the express wish of the owners.
The building negotiates its orientation with the urban fabric. The original planning proposal adapts to the reality of the existing urban setting. The ground floor and the basement floor are located within the boundaries of the site; upper floors, however, move and align with the street l’Om. This change frees the space in the south side of the square and creates a wider space.
Although the building divides the empty space of the urban fabric into two, the treatment of each space is the same, and the ground floor of the building is understood as an element of continuity of the surroundings. It is essential that there is transparency in the access area which is overlooking the square.
Name of Project: Social security administration office building in old city Barcelona
Location: Carrer Arc del Teatre 63, Barcelona, Spain
Team: David Baena, Toni Casamor, Maria Taltavull, Manel Peribáñez
Client: Foment de Ciutat Vella. Ayuntamiento de Barcelona (Foment de Ciutat Vella. Barcelona City Council); Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social. Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social (General Treasury of Social Security, Ministry of Employment and Social Security)
Contractor: FCC Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA
Typologically Cap La Garriga is exceptional for the size of the parcel, for the topographical conditions and for its position in the corner of a park.
The building, which actually has five levels of height, but appears to be a two-storey building if perceived from St. Francis Street, and from the park like a one level building with a three level curtain wall background. This is accomplished by making the building grow downwards through a system of patios, so that 60% of the program is located bellow ground.
The house for a couple with three children – without noticeable programmatic nuances – is situated in the typical development of workers housing from the first half of the 20th century, close to the historic centre of the city: orthogonal streets and long and narrow lots – four meters -.
The house is situated on a crest, generating different relationships with its immediate environs. On one side, the treetops are at the level of a veranda; on another side, the entwined branches, when viewed from the sitting area, act as a filter through which to contemplate the outdoors. The basalt-covered roof frames and underlines in black the views which provide different depth perceptions, thus offering the dweller a differing range of situational views.
To be confronted with a building site in the shadow of the “Sagrada Familia“ a key work of the Catalan master Antoni Gaudí, is an unique opportunity in the life of an architect.
We were perfectly aware that the particular modernist style – to be read as a Catalan version of Art Nouveau – influenced by surrealism, the colorful ornaments reflecting organic elements taken out of nature, as well as the daring structure of the cathedral, represents for the city of Barcelona the same overwhelming attraction as the Frank Gehry`s Guggenheim Museum for Bilbao.
This project sets out to alter and improve an apartment situated facing away from the road in a 1980’s building on carrer Casanova, on the left side of the Example in Barcelona.
In defining the new use of space in accordance with the client’s needs, attention has been given to maximising the entry of daylight and the visual interrelationships between the different parts of the house, each with its own identity.
In the centre of a town near Barcelona and in a location initially occupied by orchards, two sisters with their respective families have built two semidetached house. The project proposes a single body with slight volumetric differences between the two houses. These are articulated through a central courtyard inside that works as a skylight and ventilation chimney.
Image Courtesy Filippo Poli
Architects: CAVAA Arquitectes, Jordi Calbetó and Oriol Vañó , architects.
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