A plot of difficult geometry located in a conventional garden-city. Two houses for two brothers with a separate guest area common to both. The planning had provided for an extension of the street which forced the building to be cornered in the southern corner of the plot and it determined the triangular shape of the plant which ended up practically coinciding with the only surface where it could be built. In this project the narrow strips of forced separation with the neighbours were also intended as car parking and pedestrian access to the homes, which opened towards the private garden inevitably located to the north. Patios and skylights sought the sun and southern light.

Neither the small size of the plot, nor its excessive slope, nor its geometry in plan, nor the number of apartments that could and therefore had to be built, made it possible to find the slightest gap in which to improve the volumetric implementation that the editor of the ordinances had decided. The project only found the freedom to paint everything a camouflage green to ensure that everything happened as unnoticed as possible in the middle of that landscape in which discreet and endearing summer towers appeared from the middle of the last century. The effort was concentrated on the interior organisation. It was decided that each apartment, even if it was only 90 m2, would be developed vertically so that everyone could enjoy direct contact with the garden. They were single-wall dwellings, an elementary construction system that the work tried to clearly explain, which were organised from a central void, covered and illuminated from above. On one side there was the staircase that gave access to a series of rooms, all of the same dimension and separated from the void by means of folding doors. The lights and cross ventilations, the game of the multiple possible compartments and the empty façades that did not want to favour predetermined uses, gave great freedom to those small interiors. The users responded with enormous imagination to what the building offered them and the different and unforeseen ways in which those 12 identical apartments were experienced would have deserved a documented study. A few years after they were inaugurated, auxiliary buildings and a community pool were built on an adjacent plot. A wall became the element that organised the extension by radically separating the world of storage rooms treated in the manner of neighbouring apartments, from the brightness and luminosity of the tiles and water. Of the orderly series of doors that led to the pool, one gave access to the changing rooms, others were false, another one was a mirror that simulated a void, and a final one communicated to the outside, to one of the apartment’s courtyards.

Given the complexity of the program, the complex is arranged on the Passeig de Torreblanca and looking south over the Arborètum Park. The main entrances from the Theatre to the Conservatory are arranged on a large platform, benefiting from the views over the Arborètum, as this building sits on one of the lateral façades of the large theatre building. The large volume of this building maintains its presence and stands as the main character of the complex. The project tries to solve a tough functional program from its volumetrics. The theatre will be the protagonist of the whole operation. The rest of the built bodies are arranged around the large central box, with which an attempt is made to solve the scale problem posed by the lateral and rear façades of the theatre. This arrangement of additions to the central body will allow a specialisation of the accesses to the different buildings with the creation of an elevated platform, which, while performing the function of an outdoor public square, organises the arrangement of the accesses to the Theatre and Conservatory from on two of its sides, as well as representing the function of a virtual door to the Arborètum's neighbouring park. The building, given its functional characteristics, is manifested by its volume, reaching its maximum height in the scenic box, which allows the folding of sets. The room extends over two levels: one at the access level, which forms the platform, and another at the level of the amphitheatre, which is accessed by stairs located laterally. The capacity of the hall is 746 spectators, which makes it possible to have very appropriate equipment for the city and its surroundings. The special formal diversification of the building is what will allow the different parts to be understood as a single built complex and will try to solve the obvious problem of scale posed between the large central volume and its encounters with the immediate urban environment, establishing at the same time and from more distant readings an image of autonomy and representativeness in accordance with the characteristics of the centre.

Central Park In the last ten years, Sant Cugat del Vallès has seen its population increase from three originally rural sectors. The park we present occupies one of these three sectors, the one called Sant Domènec-Colomer. It is a narrow and long strip that extends from the centre of the town to one of the nearby hills, being traversed longitudinally by a stream. Urban planning focuses on two main issues: the concentration of the green area in a central strip that protects the stream, and the adaptation of the road layout and the building to the morphology of the site. Based on this, the park project takes into account the topography of the small valley on which it is located, its agricultural nature and the strong social pressure that its urban immersion entails. The main road, which is parallel to the park, is designed according to two different traces: a rectilinear one, which proposes a clear geometric order, and the sinusoidal one, adapting to the existing layouts. The curvilinear route is broken down into a staggered section which, while maintaining a minimum sidewalk, allows a mid-height promenade to be attached between the park and the street. This promenade, which provides occasional access to the park, is the most urban alternative of the project, becoming a viewpoint over the park and over the city. Inside, the path of the stream is restored, which is accompanied by a path roughly parallel to it, allowing the whole sector to be traversed longitudinally. A system of transverse paths, following the agricultural subdivision, completes the connection with the perimeter limits. The vegetation evokes the specific ecosystems of the area: alignment of deciduous leaves on the stream and the longitudinal path, evergreen on the transverse paths, small evergreen forests on the demarcation of the fields and various types of grasses in the fields. Rambla del Celler and Park System The Sant Cugat park system is the result of the development of a series of partial plans around the Monastery, carried out over the last few years based on a common idea: the project of free spaces as the genesis of the form of city. This idea has allowed us to adapt to various situations, to contradictory plans that have already been approved, or to the disaggregation into infinite forms of execution with very changing promoters and budgets. The parks system project already had the global treatment of all the open spaces of the various developments and the preservation of the memory of the place as its main objective. Through the discussion of the different urbanisation projects and the establishment of homogeneous criteria, the aim was to overcome the individuality of each order to obtain an argument that only with vegetation and pavements would become, apparently, something prior to construction of city. The definition of the checkered grids, which are assumed to generate the layout of the streets, and the grass area that equally covers both the parks and the linear parterres or the squares, aim to create a unitary image of the entire sector. This unit is reinforced by the desire to obtain continuity for pedestrians and bicycles throughout the park system. The Riera Park is the last piece of this park system and allows the physical and visual connection with the Torre Negra natural area and the Collserola mountain range. The Riera Park is designed based on the same arguments, taking advantage of the existing ponds and the presence of the open watercourse. The modification of the topography on the banks of the stream gives rise to a series of lamination ponds that reduce the speed of the water and that enable the growth of riverside species. A series of bridges allow both sides of the watercourse to be connected, enabling the contemplation of this typical landscape of our country.

The new housing for university students is located on the same block as the Vallès School of Architecture. The proposal aims to maintain the balance between existing buildings, outdoor spaces and the new student residence. It consists of two blocks of ground floor and a floor above which are parallel to the street, with a large central atrium. The program makes it possible to imagine intense cohabitation between users, both on an individual level, thanks to the interior flexibility of the homes, and on a collective level, thanks to the use of the atrium as a space for social events. The project opts for an industrialised construction through a single prefabricated concrete housing module with a minimum of fixed elements. All modules and finishes are removable and recyclable, or reusable. The building is divided into two floors to take advantage of the existing topography, making the access possible without the need for an elevator and reducing the surface area of walkways and stairs.