Hybrid layers in a period residence in Barcelona

Vallirana 47 is a residential five-apartment building of the 20s that develops on a long and narrow lot in the historic urban fabric of Barcelona. The use and aesthetics of its spaces is typical of the period apartments of the Catalan capital: long distribution corridors, small rooms enriched with vintage tiled floors, plaster moldings on the ceiling, doors, overdoors, timber beams, folding shutters and Catalan vaults. Although the renovation project stems from the identity and the history of the building, the result is both disruptive and playful.

While the design of the flooring and the frame of the ceiling marked the division of the rooms and established the hierarchy of spaces, the designers choose to subvert that original order, while maintaining the floors and ceilings unchanged. A new system of open and continuous, dynamic and complex spaces suitable for contemporary living, is superimposed on small and narrow rooms, reorganized and equipped with custom-made furniture and mezzanines where the height allows it.

The new materials draw from the aesthetics of the old ones, in both tactile and most abstract aspects, generating an intense and unusual patchwork.