The Clota district, close to the Vall d’Hebron, is one of the few places in Barcelona where we can still find some orchards and agricultural buildings on the ground floor and the first floor. The project addresses the renovation and merging of two of these buildings to form a single dwelling. The existing spaces had very small dimensions, which is why some holes have been opened in the various rooms and natural light has been allowed to enter. The structure of the existing buildings has been maintained, although the slab of one of the two houses has been emptied to double the height of the library, and a new façade has been built in the garden in order to expand the house a little bit. The resulting house combines pre-existing elements and new additions in such a way that they are indistinguishable, simulating the reform of the new facings or by the materials’ finishing touches. The new construction procedures used mimic the procedures of the old houses and some structural elements are visible, such as the wooden crossbeams of the library’s casting.

This project is the result of joining two pre-existing buildings in the Clota district of Barcelona. The object of the work was the restoration and extension of the two houses, located between partitions and two floors each, to turn them into a single house with a library study as a significant element. The intervention preserved the general structure of one of the buildings, even the access staircase to the upper floor, although the mezzanine of some rooms was emptied. The domestic program was developed in this area: on the ground floor, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen in the background; and upstairs, three bedrooms.

The performance in the other house was more drastic: the floor and the roof of the center of the floor were partially emptied and a walkway and skylight were built. This element, suspended from the ceiling, allows the entry of abundant zenithal light that floods the interior. The white paint and a pavement based on scraps of different woods reinforce this luminosity. To preserve the original spirit of the building, the ceilings, walls, beams, and some fragments of different layers of paint superimposed over time were partially exposed.