Category: Space Architecture

“Foraminifera” focuses on the interest in finding solutions in living systems that can be used in the field of design. Using nature as its laboratory, observing how biological organisms achieve complex structures by following simple guides and components. Its aim is to provide a new design and feel to Barcelona’s Plaza Lesseps, a public transport connection hub where the occupation of space tends to be transitory. It calls for the surrounding areas and context of the space to be opened up and enhanced.

“Socialisation Spaces” aims to find meeting points during Barcelona Poetry Week to foster dialogue and debate. Its objective is to connect people who have been to different events to create an environment conducive to interaction. By creating slots in the event schedule at these meeting points during the week, the aim is to foster dialogue between participants and open a door to participation to passers-by outside the event.

“Arrels Foundation. Implementation of Offices and Open Centre” focuses on this foundation, a volunteer organisation dedicated to caring for the homeless in Barcelona, and proposes that the foundation open up the existing skylight in the building to let in natural light, fostering the exterior/interior space relationship and the planting of a birch tree, the heart of the project. At the Open Centre, flexible and multi-purpose spaces built around the interior courtyard are created. The upper floor has an open design for greater functional adaptability.

“Vivienda 360” (Home 360) is a multifunctional connecting piece of furniture to adapt to the circular geometry of the floor and meet the objectives of arranging a family home. The piece of furniture demarcates the private areas and generates common spaces, cosy but still open, so achieving a dynamic floor plan. The connecting piece of furniture is both container of all the basic functions, housing the bathrooms, the kitchen, lighting, desks and library, which will predominate, as a passion for culture is what unites all the members of the family.

“Floor 21. Colón Building” creates a home for a large family in the unique Colón Building in Barcelona. So that everyone enjoys the 360-degree views over Barcelona, the perimeter is freed, a new façade is created in the private area where, using pivoting wooden panels, it is possible to keep it open or closed depending on the activities and time of day. Besides the creation of the new façade, we generate a piece of perimeter furniture in the gallery that joins together all the areas with a bookshelf, which is the only shared interest of the various members of this family.

“La ratonera” (The Mousetrap) is the name of the bunker where the Danish royal family hides in a futuristic film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. The challenge consisted of creating the visual universe of the film, maintaining the essence of the play, but modifying elements (such as the historical context and the locations). A general context was created, defining atmospheres and including general lines of atrezzo, and a space was described (the command centre of the bunker) for one of the characters in the play (Claudius, the impostor king), designing the personal objects that would define him.

“Hormiguero contra el hambre” (Anthill Against Hunger) is the office where a network of workers against the lack of food in Africa and a large part of the Mediterranean would be trained, constructed by people who live in the areas affected, through workshops. The anthill concept is an allegory that reflects a space where connections are generated between different places to achieve a better habitat, besides the ability to react in order to find food, repair damage, make alarms sound and steadily settle in different areas for continuous improvement.

“Food for All” plans the offices for a food bank, a work space conditioned by an austere image, which we are trying to highlight on the basis of the furniture and materials chosen. Besides this, the concept is based on enhancing the existing architecture of the Hospital Sant Pau and creating an atmosphere of a work space with materials, textures and shapes, implementing “lightness” as concept in such a way that the minimum intervention takes place and it does not seek to compete with the architecture of the complex.

With the aim of bringing the city into the home, the idea of “From City to Home. Colón Building. 360º Views” is to reflect what it is that makes the centre attractive. For this, a series of boxes has been created that simulate the buildings and contain the private uses, such as bedrooms and bathrooms, where we will use wood. Between them, we create squares or public meeting places, which will be the common areas of the house like the living room or library, where we will use concrete. All of the room boxes seek out the façade and views, but are not enclosed, to allow completely free passage through them.

The World Food Distribution Community (CMDA in Spanish) is an organisation that works in providing food to victims of emergencies. By planning the implementation of its offices in the Sant Rafael wing of the Catalan Modernist Sant Pau complex in Barcelona, a work area was chosen that reflected the company’s values, especially its stability, enhancing the environment hosting it. Spaces are articulated through furniture and fittings, which can swapped between the workers, favouring informal chance encounters.

“Claudius…” presents the set design of a play, prequel to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, which takes the father of that character, King Hamlet, and explains the reasons for his murder at the hands of his brother Claudius. It starts with their childhood, when they played at building forts with pillows, and uses this object as a metaphor for Claudius’ spirit. As the character matures, the set design changes with him: what at first had been a cosy and dream-like place, represented by pyramidal columns of cushions, is torn down and becomes a wild and lonely place.