The intermodal building and connection to Terminals A and B is externally characterised by a façade that extends beyond the dimensions of the building itself, as an attempt is made to establish continuity between the façades of Terminal B, from the Miró mural, and from terminal A. The project proposes a neutral façade in its treatment so as not to create mimicry with the current façades. For this reason, a clad façade of extruded aluminum is proposed, which aligns with the façades of the neighbouring terminals. The volume of the new building is located separately from the new façade closure and acts as an independent volume, with an envelope of four façades with a double skin. The inner skin is of opal pavé, which will act as a large public skylight towards the interior, while the exterior is made of polycarbonate. The space in between serves as a service gallery.

On the new Diagonal Avenue of Barcelona opposite, the Central Park designed by Jean Nouvel at the end of the northern side of the block, there is a residential building that meets a double condition: as the front of an open block to the Cerdà Plan and to the autonomous piece. Six homes per floor articulated by a zig-zag corridor that joins the two vertical circulation cores and projects community space and light outwards. The houses are equipped with intermediate spaces that are obtained based on a crossing of the different planes of the façade, in which the sliding shutters are distributed on the inside and outside, thus maintaining privacy and light control but at the same time helping to achieve open spaces that connect the outside and the inside, making the separation panels of the homes unnecessary. The configuration of the building allows for a wide variety of typologies. This versatility is reflected in the appearance of development homes on one floor, with 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms. The volume is defined by the treatment of the outer skin. Black-painted steel ribs shape the envelope of the building, while the braiding of the sliding metal lamellas and the inner plane of glass along the entire perimeter of the façade are resolved. The areas of skin fracture only occur in the spaces occupied by the stairs.

The project proposal consists of carrying out a comprehensive rehabilitation of a building located at the intersection of Passeig de Gràcia with Rosselló Street in the Eixample. The building was intended for offices, and it is proposed to change its use to housing on the upper floors and commercial premises on the ground floor and mezzanine. The floor plan is organised into apartments of 60 and 100 m2, with one and two bedrooms with open spaces, kitchens incorporated at the end, mobile panels and a small intermediate space with different filters that separates the house from the street. The chamfered apartments adopt geometries in accordance with their situation. Such rehabilitation involves the demolition and new construction of the façade - maintaining only the current forged structure as well as new vertical cores of communication and roofs - cutting the existing overhangs so that the resulting façade is a sum of different skins 50% opaque and 50% glass, as is mandatory in the Eixample, alternated by layers that can slide, allowing combinations of natural light for the floors and great formal dynamism of the façade. A 5 mm translucent marble in the outermost skin that has the effect of letting light through during the day and during the night through strategic lighting with LEDs, acts as the principal source of light.

The building volume is part of one of the new metropolitan plans of the city of Barcelona along with the opening of a new street and the widening of another. The volumetric proposal of this building is solved in an organic way by dividing the building into two parts separated by a free space between the blocks. This decision allows to optimise the passage with eight-meter-deep lights in its corresponding façade and to ventilate all the rooms to the outside. The fit of the building in the free space between blocks in the longitudinal direction allows a turn to the chamfer that collects the double façade of the building, emphasising the volumetric fracture, and thus lightening the frontality of the building. In this way, verticality is again achieved with an organic image of a bicephalous building. On the ground floor, access to the premises also takes place from the space between the two blocks and also from the streets. The car park is distributed in three basements occupying 100% of the gauge and is accessed through a ramp located next to the dividing wall with access to Riera de Vallcarca Street, which is the lowest point of the site. The accesses to the houses are made through four gates located two by two in the North and South façades respectively. The façades offer a set of fixed shutters and metal sliding windows that open and close the terraces and allow a better integration of the interior and exterior spaces that dim the natural light. The shutters are made up of stainless-steel uprights and pearl grey lacquered tubular crosspieces and are framed by thin steel handrails forming a grid where the verticals set a rhythm and the horizontal ones sharpen the edges of the slab. These lattice façade plans, together with the glass interior plan, are woven around its perimeter, creating interstitial spaces, places of transition between the city and inhabited interior space, a legacy of the Mediterranean architecture of Coderch. The building, together with the Joan Fuster Library, stands as an icon of the new Lesseps Square.

The building is the first piece of a sequence that ends in the Agbar tower. In this context, it turns its head and faces the Diagonal in such a way that it turns the casual factor of the foreshortening into a respectful façade aligned with the great avenue. In the first four floors, the building is perforated to allow Bolivia street to reach the end and focus the urban perspective. On the upper floors, it looks diagonally for the upper edge of the tower to generate an interaction between the two alignments that produces a dynamic game of shadows. The low body or plinth penetrates under the tower and, with its transparent façade, produces a new public space, a triangular square. The office tower offers great flexibility of use thanks to diaphanous floor plans that derive from the absence of pillars or intermediate structures. A single and repeated window, developed in continuity on all the façades, offers good lighting and views, as well as a great versatility of interior distribution. Audiovisual production and teaching in the lower body and business management in the tower constitute a programmatic unit. The structural skeleton becomes the final form of the building because the coincidence between the supporting structure and the façade is achieved. The fusion of a structural membrane or diaphragm with the post-tensioned slabs allows large spans as well as giving rigidity to the whole. The lattice of pillars and the slabs allow the pillar-forge assembly to be considered as if it were large Vierendel beams.

The current program of uses envisages a substantial expansion of the Germplasm Bank, which represents a key piece in the Garden's conservation programs and the role it must assume in relation to the conservation of Catalan wild flora in the near future. The best and most logical solution seems to be the coverage of the unloading docks of the Garden maintenance building that we call Northern Semicircle, which is currently used for storage. This solution is possible from the enabling of the spaces for piling up material, substrates and machinery at the southern end of the Garden. It is proposed to cover the current unloading docks in such a way that an entire level is enabled, with the exception of the one located on the far right, since according to the elevations extracted from the last topographical survey by means of a small slope executed at the level of the lower path, it is possible to split the plant and thus locate a new space for a public use of the Garden. The incorporation of female staff in the maintenance tasks of the botanical garden made the forecasts that were established at the time in relation to the hygienic and work facilities insufficient. It was convenient to segregate a space for showers and changing rooms larger than the current one to separate the changing rooms from the sanitary ones. The coverage proposed there, proposed at the time in anticipation of the growth of the Garden's needs, seems uncomplicated since part of the screens and the foundation are pre-existing. Finally, other improvements are proposed for users in the use of the maneuvering and work yard such as, on the one hand, the paving of a perimeter concrete sidewalk in the previous circle and, on the other hand, the protection of the incident solar from the interior of the offices through a pergola, which also serves to travel from one space to the other without getting wet in case of rain.

The Llucmajor station remodeling project essentially tries to get the most out of its spaces by connecting them to each other, removing barriers, both traffic and vision, and emphasising the height that the platforms and tracks already have, to thus enlarging and dignifying the station. The project basically opts for the use of a single material, terrazzo, and a single colour, white, as a covering for all the facings in all areas of the station. Only in ceilings and some specific facings steel will be chosen, vitrified in vertical faces and galvanised in ceilings, which will help to close these spaces to achieve permeable ceilings with a feeling of dynamism and luminosity.

In one of the main accesses of Barcelona, integrated into the operation of covering the tracks of the Generalitat de Catalunya Railways and the conversion of the old workshops, a tablet appears, resulting from the intersection of the plots of the urban fabrics of the neighbourhoods of Sarrià and Tres Torres together with Via Augusta; thus generating a large public space, which in the future will resolve the difference in level between the two neighbourhoods as a hinge. The set of buildings of the Corporate Headquarters of GISA and FGC emerges at the intersection of Via Augusta with Vergòs and Cardenal de Sentmenat Streets which, despite the restrictiveness of the planning with a specific marked volume, are the result of an integration urban task, giving them the typical character of institutional buildings: emblematic, and at the same time friendly and functional. The functional program is resolved through diaphanous plants oriented towards the resulting public space between both buildings and offices on the outer perimeters. The façade modulation is very elaborate in order to make the interior layout more flexible and versatile. A meticulous study of the details, with very careful construction solutions, solves the entire outer skin with a single extruded anodised aluminum module.

The house responds to some basic geometric rules which are so simple that the power of the essence of the project lies in them. An orthogonal net of 7x7m on which the diagonals are superimposed, building the basis on which the composition of the project rests in the form of a musical stave. The diagonals at 45º are the generators of the expansions of the roof, skylights in some cases and double floors in others, generating an artificial topography that floats over the natural topography of the land. In this way, the programme is developed on the garden-level floor in a direct indoor-outdoor relationship, where rooms, lounges, library, dining rooms, kitchen, main room and guest pavilion are located - all of them visually linked through long perspectives cut by glass. Vertically, there are specific relationships between the main floor and the lower floor and the mezzanines, always responding to programme requirements and thus closing the three-dimensional continuity of the building. These areas of the lower floor are spaces serving the main programme such as: cellar, directly connected to the dining room; archive-video library, connected to the library; wardrobe, extension of the main room; service house, with direct access to the kitchen area. Lofts are reserved for intimate spaces in direct relation to the surrounding landscape. The composition is completed with an unexpected access through a patio in very dark tones that will contrast with the brightness of the rest of the house. The project materialises as an extensive stone roof with specific episodes of contact with the ground, leaving the rest of the perimeter to light and transparent materials: large windows with metal joinery screened at specific points in the programme.

Already in the first steps for the conception of the institutional headquarters of ROCA or Roca Barcelona Gallery, the architectural project is understood as a tool for the dissemination of a brand and a company. The building is planned based on the communication strategy, another way to spread the values, history and challenges of the company and a transmission channel to attract the interest of the public towards the values, the product, the projects and concerns of a company with more than 80 years of history such as Roca. The commission envisages the realization of a complex program in which the institutional headquarters, a museum of the brand and a platform for events of a social nature and from the business world mix and coexist. The architectural project was based on two essential ideas. Its shape and external appearance and the experience of the space lived inside. The building, surrounded by multiple taller buildings, aims to show itself to the city by understanding its own scale. Due to its urban context, the building is surrounded by the adjacent volumes and is distinguished by its smaller scale and its purity of form. Without resorting to the speculative forms typical of an architecture that seeks to realise itself through the show, the building, while discreet and elegant, manages to differentiate itself from any other. As the main objective, we researched and worked to conceive a façade that, being observed with a minimum of attention, would not leave anybody indifferent and would try to arouse curiosity. Also, from the beginning, the possibility of creating a "skin" for the building that could perhaps offer a showy effect towards the outside, but which on the other hand had no relationship or apparent consequence to the building’s interior, was given up. It was sought, therefore, to work as much as possible under these premises. Finally, after testing different possibilities, we came up with a solution for the façade based on the arrangement of a single material, the succession of multiple glasses arranged perpendicular to the axis of the façade. Thus, based on tests and prototypes, we were able to verify how new effects such as diffraction, reflection and refraction of light are produced, resulting in the distortion, translation and superimposition of the image across the façade. It was the light, both natural during the day and artificial at night, which then became the protagonist. Thus, we obtained a completely ambiguous façade that was shown both as an element of solid character by day and liquid by night, both heavy and light, both rough and smooth and in which it is sometimes difficult to recognise if its character is transparent, translucent or opaque. Thus, from the outside, when we look inside the building, the façade offers us an ambiguous (distorted) view of its interior, making it necessary to enter in order to really discover it; once inside, if we look outside, towards the city, we will observe a whole series of visual effects as if it were a game, where nothing is really where it should be. Some light rays pass through in a straight line while others are reflected the other way around, producing something similar to an image overlay. Others, at the same time, diffract to show themselves in all the colours of the rainbow. From the inside, we observe streets where there were none before, buildings are duplicated, and we see pedestrians walking by thinking they are where we see them but, in reality, they are in a different physical place. Our objective was met since we were looking for the realisation of a façade that, whenever looked at carefully, offered a plausible but subtle prescriptive effect at the same time. Just as a building projected outwards is conceived, a world, a space and a unique atmosphere are sought inside. Once inside, through the use of light, audiovisuals, materials and exhibition elements, an attempt has been made to generate an interior space very different from a usual exhibition space, where the visitor lives an intense and unique experience with the building. The interior space, therefore, is conceived as a personal and sensory experience in which the user or visitor interacts with the building thanks to presence detectors, directional speakers, light changes, projections, projected characters that interact with visitors and plasma screens that project moving objects. At the same time, all these elements are inserted as if floating in an indivisible and continuous space. The application of a slightly reflective and experimental pavement made of ceramic, a false ceiling in stainless steel and the walls of foam tetrahedrons, make up the three main materials in its interior. All of them are continuous materials: three planes that due to their condition of continuity recreate a weightless space, marking the horizontality and without spatial or formal references turning the physical space into a sort of virtual space. The technology applied to construction, to audiovisuals and to the way of explaining the brand and its product, are essential to convey the commitment that the company has to its future. The project for Roca Barcelona Gallery echoes the most advanced technologies in terms of lighting, materials such as ceramics, glass and steel. For all this, it has been necessary for ROCA and the OAB architecture team (Borja, Lucía and Carlos Ferrater) to have another team of experts in different fields such as communication, construction, lighting, audiovisuals and many other specialists of excellence who have made the creation of a flagship building and emblem of their brand possible.

The hotel is located in the former headquarters of Banc de Sabadell. This refurbishment maintains the original building as a memory of a time when Passeig de Gràcia was, exclusively, home to local banks and businesses, with a very different character to the one it has today. The original building was built in 1955 and is the work of the architect Galíndez, a regular collaborator of the bank. It has a granite and fig stone façade which is very hard, strictly symmetrical and with eight heights in the central body. This façade has been well restored, with new windows suitable for the new use as a luxury hotel. Only the plinth has been affected. With only three operations, the building has been able to accommodate the new program and, in addition, improve the relationship with Passeig de Gràcia and the fit with the city. The first is the plinth. A porch with shops and central access is defined by a sloping walkway that replaces the original imperial staircase. The reception is located on the mezzanine, at the bottom of the lot. The access road is completely public. The second is a beautiful atrium at the full height of the building, which facilitates the overall perception, organises the room floors, illuminates the entrance walkway and creates a spectacular access. The third consists of a completely new façade that overlooks the inner courtyard of the block, opening onto a garden designed by Bet Figueras. The interiors, created in collaboration with Patricia Urquiola, have a calligraphic, delicate, sensitive design that plays with the nuance of the lights and the sensuality of the spaces. The white colour, the indirect and nuanced lights, the shutters, the warm furniture by contrast are the leitmotif of all the building’s spaces, with several public and visitable parts.

After twelve years of searching for a plot of land, the Evangelical Church of Terrassa, an institution almost a century old in the city, finds its place in the Can Tusell neighbourhood facing Avinguda Béjar, one of the main streets of access to the city and communication with the industrial area. The building, which occupies a third of the plot and is located in its lowest part with access from Avinguda Béjar, combines specifically religious uses (it holds worship every Sunday morning) with social uses resulting from an agreement with the City Council. The complex manifests itself as a large monolithic base that gradually decreases in height due to the slope of the land formed by steel plates in the form of cladding and fence on which two bodies are suspended. In a central and larger position, a modulated cube with edges rises, covered with a new material of recycled aluminum, pressed and injected and which, thanks to its brightness, gives an emblematic character to the piece that houses its interior - the room for worship. The other body of lower height and close to Carrer Tramuntana is suspended and stands out. In this case, the edges frame corrugated and perforated aluminum planes that act as a lattice like a second skin for the nursery programme. While the façade on Avinguda Béjar presents itself as a tense, rigorous and continuous plan that hides its access, the two side façades show its friendlier side where the vegetation masks a fence that acts as a second façade. This makes the plane of the glass retract with respect to the limit of the plot and all the perimeter spaces enjoy light and ventilation, as well as privacy and security. Since the nursery is accessed via a higher and separate level, the functional programme, both religious and social, takes place all on the ground floor with the exception of a loft suspended over the double space of the worship hall. A reception area allows passage and distributes the administration area on one side and, on the other, a corridor facilitates access to twelve classrooms and the worship room at the front, the central piece that organises the entire programme of needs around it. The worship room is oriented perpendicular to the axis of access so that thanks to a system of movable partitions they establish a direct relationship with the adjacent spaces which in turn are related to the outside through a courtyard. While the compositional criteria of the interior respond to functional criteria, the exteriors respond to the situation, the orientation and, above all, to the desire to be a discreet and contained building from a short distance but at the same time a reference piece of evangelical worship from the farthest distance.

The house is located on a rectangular urban plot and is born from a grid that modulates the structure both in plan and in volume. It is separated from the ground, perceiving it as a suspended body in which the pillars and the gables can be seen on the outside, delimiting the façade planes and forming the volumes. The placement of the building close to the street allows a garden area with a swimming pool to be freed towards the interior of the block. The volumes are articulated according to the needs of the program and the configuration of the interior space to emphasise the relationship with the exterior spaces, which is the objective of the project. Each area of the house is extended with an outdoor garden space, generating a perimeter route in which the vegetation is the protagonist; thus, visually entering the interior spaces. The structural profiles delimit and stress the façade planes that are composed of solids and voids brought to the limit of the perimeter. This game of the façades and the volume allows the light to fall in an intentional way on the interior, receiving a game of changing lights and shadows throughout the day. The use of white limestone in the blind facings and the large glass windows made by Vitrocsa are solved with a structure in minimal enclosures that provide it with a light character.

The tugboat building, a master builder's construction, dates from the beginning of the 20th century and for years has endured low-quality renovations. That is why the proposed refurbishment, added to the fact that it is located at the end of a front of buildings with the same port colonial character, proposes a reconstruction operation of its central part (the most damaged structure), arrangement of the lateral towers and only raises a new cover, where the maximum height is maintained and collects a large skylight in its upper crowning as well as large windows on both sides of the promenade and the port. The two-storey building houses a shop, a showroom and bathrooms on the ground floor, while on the upper floor there is the office, warehouse, meeting room and a large multi-purpose room for to the different institutional acts. The refurbishment of the building is understood from the point of view of the set of buildings that follow on this same front, all of them subject to a subsequent one that will be carried out in the port of Barcelona. The solution of the roof of the central body, without varying the height or the configuration of the roof with two gables, responds to an idea of a rib through which natural light penetrates and is reflected during the day while at night it is projected as a big lighthouse. Constructively, a system of panels for the façade, beams, slabs and pilasters, all prefabricated, make up the central body reconstructed faithfully to the pre-existing structure. Above this a structure in the form of ribs guided by steel plates rises, and between which the glass surface folds allowing the entry of vertical and zenithal light. The rigorously reformed lateral towers adapt with their voids and interior spaces to the new program. Finally, the broken white melts throughout the building so that only the game of reflections, lights and shadows of the new intervention takes the spotlight.

Per encàrrec de l’ONG Fundació Catalana de l’Esplai, estem treballant en varis projectes de cases de colònies en diferents àrees de la geografia catalana com Castellbell i el Vilar, Navès, Sant Joan de les Abadesses, etc. amb criteris de sostenibilitat, durabilitat, adaptabilitat i austeritat que caracteritzen els edificis que hem realitzat per a ells. Les principals premisses que es tingueren en compte a l’hora de pensar el nou alberg foren les següents: -Projecte econòmicament sostenible. El cost no podria excedir els 450€/m2 construïts inclosa la urbanització. -Projecte multi funcional. Amb un bagatge de més de 25 anys gestionant escoles de naturalesa, la Fundació determina que la viabilitat d’un equipament d’aquestes característiques ha de tenir una gran versatilitat. Aspectes com la capacitat de les habitacions, la distribució, els lavabos, la versatilitat de les sales d’activitats i l’accessibilitat a tots els espais... -Projecte respectuós amb l’entorn. Com a part implícita al projecte educatiu de la Fundació i amb l’experiència adquirida en un edifici com el CENTRE ESPLAI, la construcció d’aquesta nova escola de naturalesa hauria de comptar amb sistemes d’estalvi energètic. En la primera de les realitzacions, la proposta d’implantació parteix de la necessitat urbanística de no excedir el gàlib de les edificacions preexistents; uns barracons en forma de “L” en un estat molt precari de salubritat i higiene. El nou equipament constarà de tres zones ben diferenciades: edifici de serveis, aules de natura i zona de dormitoris. L’edifici de serveis és on es troba el menjador, la cuina, el magatzem i una zona de recepció i punt d’informació. El menjador tindrà una capacitat de gairebé 100 comensals i estarà situat en una sola sala, on els diferents grups que s’allotgin a l’alberg trobaran un espai de trobada i relació. En l’edifici contigu al menjador estaran les tres aules de natura amb una capacitat per a 30 persones cada una d’elles. Fugint de les tipologies convencionals de cases de colònies que responen a l’esquema en forma de pinta -circulacions de les que pengen bateries de dormitoris amb banys comuns- la proposta aposta per unes unitats de sistema on la relació entre superfície útil i construïda augmenta degut a que les comunicacions entre elles es produeixen des de l’espai exterior. Aquesta disposició modular permetrà, per exemple, allotjar grups diferents dins la mateixa instal·lació i que aquests mantinguin cert grau d’intimitat dins la seva caseta. La fragmentació volumètrica en petites unitats autònomes permet graduar el número d’usuaris i minimitzar els costs de manteniment i vigilància, a la vegada que permet configurar un sistema amb la colònia plena. La unitat es proposa com un referent, arquetip i imatge de l’imaginari del món de la infància -petites casetes, poble, relació amb el bosc, els camins i allò natural- i, en el futur, permetrà una fàcil ampliació o expansió del propi sistema. Els recorreguts exteriors adaptats i els passos entre els diferents volums permeten la circulació entre ells i s’agrupa així les entrades i es facilita el control per part dels monitors. Plantegem tres tipologies d’habitació diferenciades amb agrupacions de 4, 6 o 8 nens amb la possibilitat de desenvolupar-les en un nivell o dos segons el cos, resultant-ne una capacitat total de 90 places. L’espai superior i el volum d’aire que conté adquireixen una enorme importància donada l’ocupació dels àmbits habitaculars. També s’afavoreix la incorporació del control de la acústica i de la il·luminació artificial sobre el teixit suspès que formen uns perfils tubulars blancs. La senzillesa dels materials utilitzats ha permès una gran economia dels mitjans d’execució així com la repercussió final pel seu manteniment posterior. Els interiors s’efectuen amb bloc de formigó vist pintat, paviments de formigó polit amb granulometria fina, finestres de 20cm d’ample inserides en marcs d’acer inoxidable mat de 2mm d’espessor amb porticó de DM pintat i incorporat per enfosquir l’interior i cúpules encadellades vistes que genera una tonalitat càlida de llum interior. La ubicació dels conjunts de finestres als paraments verticals permet una perfecta ventilació creuada independentment del vent dominant en cada cas. Per als exteriors s’emfatitza en la unitat del material; façanes i cobertes tant cèl·lules d’habitació com en edificis públics respon al sistema de Coteterm de Parex, un estuc flexible i auto rentable que permet la continuïtat de l’aïllament i el tractament hidròfug en tot el perímetre. Els recorreguts exteriors van diferenciats en dos tipologies de paviments: taulons de formigó texturitzant per als vianants i de formigó raspat per al trànsit rodat. Donada la solució final de la proposta s’amplia l’espectre d’usuaris ja que no només podrà acollir les colònies i campaments d’estiu per a escolars sinó que, a més, famílies i grups podran fer ús de l’equipament durant tot l’any.

The two metro stations, L9 Aeroport T1 and Aeroport T2, linked to terminals T1 and T2, have the same formal and environmental characteristics given their proximity and their link with the multimodal building, made by the same authors. The basic characteristics of the public transport elements of the infrastructures have to do with the clarity of flows and organisation. Airports, railway or metro stations must respond clearly and resoundingly to the clarity of routes and functional rationality. In our case, the use of the same materials (aluminum, retro-projected walls, flush ceiling, etc.) want to participate in the same linguistic code as the architectures that support them. This is to make the user understand that when he arrives at the airport terminal stations (T1 and T2) he will recognise the desired unity by its atmosphere and materials. This formal and compositional unity causes an understandable and clear reading of the spaces and routes, which is ultimately what is intended with this type of infrastructure.

Given the requirements from the Barcelona Botanic Garden for the expansion of the Germplasm Bank and a reorganisation of the work spaces, we plan to rationalise the uses of the current offices and colonise the northern semicircle (built on the irrigation water tank). In this way, we preserve the current footprint of the circular route in the landscape around the maneuvering area. The current program of uses envisages a substantial expansion of the germplasm bank, a key piece in the conservation programs of the garden and in the role it will play in relation to the conservation of Catalan wild flora in the near future. The best and most logical solution seems to be to cover the unloading docks of the Garden’s maintenance building, what we call northern semicircle, currently used for storage. This solution has been possible since spaces were created for the storage of materials, substrates and machinery at the southern end of the Garden. It is proposed to cover the current unloading docks in such a way that an entire level is enabled, except for the one located on the far right, given that, according to the levels extracted from the last topographical study, they allow through a small unevenness executed in the level of the lower path, split the plant and thus locate a new space for public use in the Garden. The inclusion of female personnel in the maintenance tasks of the botanical garden made the forecasts that were established at the time in terms of hygienic and work facilities insufficient. It was convenient to segregate a space for showers and changing rooms larger than the current one, in which the changing rooms were separated from the sanitary ones. The coverage that is proposed was already proposed at the time in anticipation of the growth of the needs of the Garden, which is why carrying out the work to adapt the building of the northern semicircle seems not very complex, given that part of the screens and of the foundation are pre-existing. On the other hand, we propose other improvements for users in the use of the maneuvering and work yard, which are to pave a concrete sidewalk in the inner circle and to protect the offices from solar incidence through a pergola, so that you can move from one space to another without getting wet in the event of rain.

Situada la badia de Port de la Selva, a la costa nord del Parc Natural del Cap de Creus, davant del mar i la tramuntana. La casa, una construcció entre mitgeres, recull l'herència cultural del lloc i pren com a referència les cases Villavecchia de F. Corretja i A. Milá i la casa Senillosa de J.A. Coderch, ambdues ubicades a la població veïna de Cadaqués, i són exemple del respecte per allò tradicional, tot incorporant-hi comoditats i elements moderns. Construïda en una parcel·la profunda i estreta entre dos carrers: el passeig de la Platja i el carrer Selva de Mar, i té edificis molt propers i de major altura. La secció resol els condicionants de la normativa del casc antic per mitjà d'un escalonament de la secció a mesura que s'aproxima al carrer posterior, millora les condicions d'assolellament i ventilació i adequa les alçades, com les façanes tradicionals dels patis protegits. Atesa la proporció allargada de la parcel·la, l'orientació solar al nord, els difícils condicionants meteorològics i la falta de privadesa, la casa planteja un pati aïllat i protegit en un lloc central obert a la casa, que es converteix en un espai de relació i estar, que participa del dia i la nit, i que es protegeix de la calor, el fred, la pluja i el vent. Aquest és el lloc de relació entre els habitants i el seu espai íntim imaginat per a una vida no amenaçada. L'interior de la casa es distribueix en tres nivells. A la planta baixa, hi ha un accés pels dos carrers; hi ha un accés posterior al garatge i un accés per als vianants a la part del davant, per la qual s'accedeix directament a l'espai de cuina-menjador-pati, mantenint així la tipologia de casa de pescadors. A la primera planta hi ha els dormitoris, als quals s'accedeix per dues escales; una interior i una altra exterior. En aquest nivell el pati és un atri de distribució a través d'una galeria penjada que genera un contínuum centre de la vida domèstica. Finalment, al segon nivell hi ha la biblioteca, l'estar i una terrassa protegida que mira cap al mar. Constructivament, la casa es resol economitzant mitjans i reconeixent la lògica estructural interna dels seus materials, que, gràcies a la incidència de la llum, manifesten els aspectes més sensitius del seu interior. El rigor, l'austeritat i la materialitat defineixen els espais que connecten l'escala domèstica de la casa amb el pati o domini figurat, que, en transcendir allò domèstic, construeix una escala major en la qual l'imaginari enriqueix la forma d'habitar.

La reforma del front marítim sorgeix de la idea de donar valor als atributs que, de forma natural, posseeix la localitat de L’Escala: la seva geografia única, el Cap de Norfeu, la badia de Roses, les muntanyes al fons amb la presència del Canigó, el poble de Sant Martí d’Empúries, les platges, les ruïnes de l’antiga ciutat Emporium i la visió propera de la façana marítima, la platja amb la roca del Cargol, el Port d’En Perris i el passeig marítim. Tot això configura un dels amfiteatres naturals més bells del món. El projecte cerca restituir la tradició i la cultura mil·lenària d’una localitat marítima de gran personalitat i caràcter. El projecte assoleix, remarca i potencia tots aquests atributs geogràfics, naturals i històrics treballant per absència, eliminant tots aquells elements que distorsionen la qualitat del lloc.

The project was about transforming an office building into a new residential one. The building had been designed by the architect Roberto Terradas Via in 1962, and it was considered a Site of Urban Interest with protection level C in the Barcelona Heritage catalog. After consultations with the author's children and with the need to adapt it to current regulations and the criteria of the technical code, the rehabilitation of this modern heritage is done with great respect towards the original proposal. Respecting the compositional criteria of the façade on Rosselló Street and the façade in the Palau Robert gardens, materials such as white limestone, grey granite and coloured ceramics are restored, incorporating locksmithing and new steel joinery. Preserving the original trace, a set of pivoting windows with a vertical axis with a glass sill is created that incorporates adjustable shutters with horizontal slats inside its glass, solving issues of security, tightness, ventilation, insolation and insulation, as well as the cleaning of the glass from the inside thanks to the three opening positions of the window, 10, 30, 90 cm. The closure of the ground floor respects the original recessed solution by adapting it to the new use of the building, emphasising the riveted iron pillar, reconstructing the old canopy and creating a new lobby with a double scope of access. The common spaces, such as the hall, landings and interior patio, are treated with period materials such as paving stones, ceramics, wood and iron respecting the formal ideology of the Roberto Terradas Via project. Inside the flats, the proposed distribution allows a certain flexibility and the view from the main area of the unitary set of the four windows. The penthouses, porches and spaces between terraces, as well as the community technical installations, are arranged following a criteria of respect for the old building and the environment.

Located in Poblenou’s old urban fabric, at a point of transition between the historic axis of Maria Agulló, the Rambla de Poblenou and the beach which is nearby, the project meets this dual condition. On the one hand, on Fernando Poo Street, the traditional typology of the house is recovered, single-storey and two-storey houses that express their individuality on the street. On the other, the corner, empty but drawn on the edges and cut into the sky, flows into the city of Barcelona with its animated flows of inhabitants and visitors who run towards the beach. In Sant Francesc Street, the typological solution insists on the animation of the lower floors as a founding element of the social control of the city. A simple access system avoids elevators and extends the street towards the interior of the homes and common spaces. The collective builds the city and organises pass-through housing on the ground floor and duplexes on the first floor. The corner is resolved with a T-shaped house that opens onto the interior courtyard and a void that proposes a new interruption to Fernando Poo Street. The effect of the corner thus benefits three homes and offers an access space that can be colonised by its inhabitants. In all cases, the mattress of the small access courtyards protected with low-height locks gives thickness to the line between what is public and what is private and contributes to an energy strategy that, thanks to the insulation from the outside (SATE) and aerothermia, achieves maximum efficiency. The voids on the first floor overcome their functional condition to acquire the scale of the street through large openings and corridors. This border between the domestic and the overall vision is even more diluted inside the operation, where the configuration of the car park allows the planting of indigenous port trees. The good orientation of the houses, to the sun and to the sea, reveals a small garden recess in the heart of the city. The 12 houses are anchored in Poblenou’s urban tradition and manifest this through a small intervention on their ground floor walls that recalls the names of their history. [La Granota . Trofeu Mans . La França Xica . El tio Che . Pa amb vi i sucre . L’Aliança . Ateneu Colón . Joncar . Teneria Barcelonesa . Ca l’Aranyó. El Sabre de Plata...]

Hermanos Torres Cuisine is a project born from the desire to generate a new experience in relation to the world of cooking and catering. A new space that allows us to live a new culinary experience. Continent and content come together for a unique experience. THE SPACE From the beginning, Sergio and Javier Torres defined in a few words what they were looking for: "more than a restaurant with a kitchen, we would like to create a kitchen with a restaurant". With this clear and ambitious premise and with the acquisition of an old industrial building of almost 800 m2, which had to be completely renovated, the project began. At the spatial level, the project was born, therefore, with the desire to erase or dilute some dividing lines between the different spaces that make up a traditional restaurant. Gradually, over time, the kitchen space has acquired a certain prominence in some of the latest avant-garde restaurants. Initially, windows that showed the interior of the kitchen through a glass were opened. On other occasions the kitchen was opened by placing it at the back of the restaurant, behind a bar, and even in some cases, as in the case of the Dos Cielos Restaurant (former restaurant of the Torres brothers), the restaurant through the kitchen. Exclusive tables have also been included in some restaurants so that a few people can eat in the same kitchen. However, this time, an even more radical leap is made, placing the kitchen not only as the central element of the intervention, but also as an enveloping element. The restaurant is the kitchen. By placing the kitchen at the epicentre of the restaurant, the old concept of the café-theater resurfaces, places where the diner enjoys a show while having dinner. But here the show will consist of the same preparation of the dishes to be tasted. In addition, thanks to the fact that he has chosen an industrial building as a large container, the experience of living a "performance" yourself is emphasised. It feels like being on a big ship, being on a TV set or in a modern theatre. It was therefore a matter of configuring and exalting these properties of the original space in such a way that a further step could be taken in the experience of haute cuisine. The diner participates and empathises with the Chef, while it is a direct witness to the creative act that is taking place. And not only is it a witness, but it also ends up becoming the protagonist of the experience when the dish arrives at the table. Having diluted the lines that physically separate the space, the two chefs, Sergio and Javier, along with second chefs, chefs, waiters and assistant cooks, move the space naturally and without barriers between stoves and tables. A space of no more than two meters, free of any physical or visual obstacles. This is what the brothers were looking for, to be able to establish a direct relationship with their customers. At the same time, the spectator, diner and protagonist (depending on each moment) not only has a central stage that are of the "three pianos" (place where the last steps of each dish are elaborated and culminated), but also it is surrounded by kitchens and spaces related to the experience you are living. In three of the faces that surround the central space is the wine cellar, the pastry shop and the 3 cooking kitchens (Meats, Fish and Fruits-vegetables), plus you can also see the space of research and development behind a glass, in which the brothers carry out their experiments and tests to achieve new creations. Work has been done to make the kitchens work like clockwork, and to be as well-equipped as possible, always giving priority to functional aspects so as not to diminish their proper functioning. Therefore, there is a subsequent circulation, which manages to communicate all the spaces: preparation and production kitchens and their respective cameras as well as the spaces for staff, dining room, locker rooms, training room, etc. So, despite the novelty of the distribution, the space has been organised in a consistent and effective way. Another example would be to respect the classic concept of atrium represented in the Bar area. That is, when we enter and access the large industrial building, we have a first filter space that allows us to save the surprise, and then discover the large space of the main dining room. So, next to the cloakroom, the Bar becomes an entrance hall. Returning to the concept of foyer in a concert hall: before the show, the bartender, a prestigious mixologist, will prepare a cocktail, a first aperitif, which introduces us to the atmosphere of the industrial unit, the perfect opening act before the experience that awaits us on the other side of the cellar. MATERIALITY Once the organisation of the space has been defined, an element of great importance ensures that the culinary experience takes place with the dose of comfort and convenience it deserves. To try to soften the undeniable fact that we will be eating in an industrial unit, a series of materials are introduced that soften and even produce a kind of ambiguity between being initially in a cold space of large proportions versus a pleasant space, warm and welcoming. Tables with tablecloths, upholstered chairs and even the presence of a rug will soften and provide comfort, as well as help control the acoustics of the room. However, we have tried to make the decorative interventions as minimal as possible. Fleeing the recent trend and the increasingly popular fashion of refilling and filling spaces with objects, textiles and formal abundance that gives place to a baroque minimalism or new kitsch that can only confuse the customer and not leave clear what is authentic and what is a "lie" (fake). This is exactly the opposite. To erase the unnecessary, not to confuse and not allow it to dominate the superfluous, but the truly important. The floor, thanks to the collaboration of the Roca company, is ceramic. As it should be, this has always been the traditional cuisine of a lifetime, just like the one where the brothers cooked as children with their grandmother Catalina. This is a special format piece designed specifically for the Restaurant. A continuous floor, therefore using the same material for all areas, the main ones and the ones for the staff. It was essential to understand the unitary nature of the intervention. We decided that the bathrooms would be the exception to the rule: Iroko wood is introduced in the bathrooms, which gives them great comfort. An atmosphere contrary to that of the central space is sought, more typical of a ship's cabin than of a large industrial building. The protagonists will always be the diner, the cook and the dishes. Regarding the rest, the less you notice and see, the better, and having the minimum concessions. To do this, we have a single large decorative element: a large black and gold curtain that occupies an entire side wall and is backlit, magically playing with light. Light, as an indispensable ingredient in architecture, will be what we will talk about below. THE LIGHT In this obsession with eliminating the superfluous and the unnecessary, the presence of the color black in practically all the restaurant appears strongly. Black emerges as a counterpoint to the white of the dishes, tablecloths and chefs' uniforms, which acquire their prominence thanks to wrapping them all with an indefinite matte black space. The colour black also allows us to do the same with light as with the decoration. Thanks to him we will be able to illuminate what interests us. The rest will be lost in the vastness of the industrial unit. Just like in a theatre or a concert hall where what lights up is the stage, the actors or the musicians. From here, a magical game begins thanks to the presence of glass that produces reflections, the darkness of the room and the presence of some mysterious hanging lights, giving rise to what the brothers have ended up defining as the ship of your dreams. The cellar is used to create a subtle light box, although not too bright (for obvious reasons of wine treatment). The glass box of the cellar is dressed in virgin vine. This warm light box with a golden effect helps to create a cozy atmosphere in both the bar and the main room. For the lighting of the room, we worked with the designer Pete Sans in the creation of what we call "clouds", lights that precisely sought to meet several objectives: the light, through the presence of hundreds or thousands of lights evokes a starry space, and thanks to the reflections in the glass of the room or in the skylights, a magical multiplier effect is produced. The lights are strategically placed at a constant height of 2.55 m, which allows you to build an imaginary or virtual roof, in which everything above (the ship reaches 7.5 m on its ridge) when painted black, it seems to fade or disappear. In this way, the ceiling is not clearly visible, only intuited. At the same time, the lights begin to generate reflections in all the windows of the restaurant and what before could be perceived as a finite space becomes ambiguous and undefined. The immensity of the black and the multiplied lights, the golden curtain with a dark background, the illuminated cellar where the bottles can be seen, the translucent skylights... All this makes the limits of the space confusing, while a dreamlike space is generated. THRESHOLD And we will finish at the beginning: the front door and the façade, which we knew had to become a threshold that separates the space of the imaginary from the urban reality of the Les Corts neighbourhood in Barcelona. To do this, after much deliberation and thinking about what we should do, we decided to respect the interior shape of the nave, a gabled roof, and therefore rescue the formal archetype of a house. Secondly, the brothers conveyed to us the importance of the 4 seasons of the year, working with seasonal produce. That’s why we decided that the best way to represent this idea would be through nature. Specifically, around a forest and how the seasons transform it. Carlos had been following the works of the painter and muralist Regina Saura for years, and in some of her recent exhibitions she had focused on the representation of trees and forests. So we asked her to participate in the project and execute a work of art on the façade around the idea of a forest. We believe that Regina Saura's façade manages to convey the message of seasonality from the different shades of leaves (winter, summer, autumn and spring colours), and at the same time it allows the contrast with the reality of the urban context. We can understand the act of entering the Hermanos Torres Kitchen in two ways, crossing a forest in the city or accessing their new home in the forest. In any case, the façade is a threshold, a place where the outer space, the street, is abandoned, and which, once transferred, allows us to live almost imaginary experiences. All this thanks to the organisation of the space, the use of materials and the play of light. But above all, the interior space becomes a dream when you taste the latest creations by Sergio and Javier Torres.

This building is located to the right of the Eixample, a few metres away from the Sant Pau Hospital and Gaudí Avenue (Sagrada Familia), and has a 6.14 m façade which is 24 m deep; very common dimensions in the fabric of Barcelona because the regulations did not allow the construction of high-rise buildings (ground floor, mezzanine and 5 upper floors) on plots measuring less than 6 m. The project is solved with premises on the ground floor and mezzanine and one floor per floor up until five heights. This is a common exercise in our studio. This building reflects the experience of the mechanised carpentry in the building at 257 Rosselló Street, next to Passeig de Gràcia, organising large frames with pivot windows with a vertical and horizontal axis and a running sill in pieces of paving stones. A good lighting of the interior space is achieved thanks to these closures, as well as very effective ventilation of the rooms on the façade, while the darkening of the interior is solved by means of blinds inside the chamber, which allows the cleaning of all the façade’s windows.