Barcelona apartments

Subterms

    Latest story

    125 Shares189 Views

    Raúl Sanchez Architects divides Barcelona apartment with 21-metre-long wooden wall

    by

    A lengthy walnut-panelled wall runs through the bright white living spaces inside this Barcelona apartment, renovated by local studio Raúl Sanchez Architects.

    The Girona Street apartment is set within a 19th-century building in Barcelona’s affluent Dreta de l’Eixample neighbourhood and belongs to a design-savvy couple with two young children.
    A 21-metre-long walnut-panelled wall runs the length of the Girona Street apartmentPrior to the renovation, the apartment contained a warren of small, dark living spaces bookended by an indoor patio and a sitting room that overlooks the street.
    Raúl Sanchez Architects connected these two rooms with a 21-metre-long wall that stretches from one end of the floor plan to the other. While the majority of surfaces in the apartment were rendered in white micro-cement, the wall is crafted from walnut wood.
    Spaces throughout are rendered in white micro-cement”I thought of a material, which could contrast the whiteness with elegance and warmth while also adding texture and ruggedness,” founder Raúl Sanchez told Dezeen.

    “We made several samples and trials until we got the right wood and the right porosity of walnut.”
    A blue-painted dining room lies next to the loungeA series of rooms run parallel to the wall, beginning with a dining area.
    Here, a section of the rear wall was painted dark blue and fitted with a built-in bench seat, while the floor was inlaid with a square patch of patterned hydraulic tiles.

    Four-storey spiral staircase forms focal point of BSP20 House in Barcelona

    Further along the hallway, a sitting area was created just in front of a pair of stained glass windows. This is followed by two bedrooms that are partially painted blue to match the dining area.
    One of them is fronted by a huge pivoting door that, like the apartment, is split into two sides. One half is clad with stainless steel and the other in brass.
    A sea-green kitchen is hidden behind doors in the walnut-wood wallMore rooms lie concealed behind the long walnut wall, each accessed via a discrete flush door. This includes a U-shaped kitchen, which was almost entirely painted a sea-green hue.
    There’s also a storage area, the family bathroom and the principal bedroom, where a floor-to-ceiling cream curtain helps conceal en-suite facilities.
    Other rooms in the Girona Street apartment are concealed behind flush doorsThe apartment’s indoor patio was freshened up, as was the street-facing sitting area. It now features a mint-green sideboard and bookshelf, as well as a decorative wall panel that mimics the brass-and-steel pivot door.
    More hydraulic tiles were also incorporated into the floor, this time in mismatch prints.
    Hydraulic floor tiles and mint-green furnishings feature in the living roomRaúl Sanchez Architects is behind a number of striking homes in Barcelona, aside from the Girona Street apartment.
    This includes BSP20 House with its towering spiral staircase and the Tamarit Apartment, which is decked out with clashing materials.
    The photography is by José Hevia.
    Project credits:
    Architecture: Raúl Sanchez ArchitectsTeam: Valentina Barberio, Paolo Burattini, Flavia Thalisa Gütermann, Dimitris Louizos, Albert MontillaStructure: Diagonal ArquitecturaEnginering: Marés IngenierosTextile design: Catalina Montaña

    Read more: More

    More stories

    • 138 Shares159 Views

      in Rooms

      Energy-saving 10K House in Barcelona is a “labyrinth that multiplies perspectives”

      by

      Spanish studio Takk took cues from snugly stacked Russian dolls for the interior renovation of this Barcelona apartment, which features rooms nestled inside each other to maximise insulation.

      Called 10K House, the 50-square-metre apartment was renovated by Takk using a material budget of only 10,000 euros with the aim of updating the home to be as sustainable as possible.
      10K House is a residential interior design projectThe project was informed by concerns about climate change as well as the global energy crisis faced by homeowners and renters.
      Arranged across one open level, rooms were built “inside one another” in a formation that mimics the layers of an onion and places the rooms that require the most heat at the centre of the apartment, according to Takk.
      The bedroom is raised on recycled white table legs”This causes the heat emitted by us, our pets or our appliances to have to go through more walls to reach the outside,” principal architects Mireia Luzárraga and Alejandro Muiño told Dezeen.

      “If we place the spaces that need more heat – for example, the room where we sleep – in the centre of the Matryoshka [a Russian doll] we realise that we need to heat it less because the configuration of the house itself helps to maintain the temperature.”
      “The result is a kind of labyrinth that multiplies perspectives,” explained the architects, who designed the project for a single client.
      MDF was used throughout the apartmentRecycled table legs were used to elevate these constructed rooms to allow the free passage of water pipes and electrical fittings without having to create wall grooves, reducing the overall cost.
      For example, the raised central bedroom is clad in gridded frames of medium-density fibreboard (MDF) that are enveloped by slabs of local sheep’s wool – utilitarian and inexpensive materials that feature throughout the interior.
      “Despite being a small apartment, it is very complex to ensure that you never get bored of the space,” said Luzárraga and Muiño.
      The remnants of previous partitions were left exposedAfter demolishing the apartment’s existing internal layout, Takk chose not to apply costly and carbon-intensive coatings to the floors and walls.
      Rather, the architects scrubbed the space clean and left traces of the previous partitions and dismantled light fixtures visible, giving the apartment a raw appearance and maintaining a reminder of the original floor plan.
      The kitchen features a metallic sink and low-slung cabinetsThe kitchen is located in the most open part of 10K House, which includes timber geometric cabinetry and an exposed metallic sink.
      According to the architects, the open kitchen intends to act as a facility “without associated gender” and address stereotypes typically attached to housework.

      Energy savings from home insulation “vanishing” after four years

      “Traditionally, the kitchen has been understood as a space to be used mainly by women, whether they own the house or do domestic work,” reflected Luzárraga and Muiño.
      “This has meant that [historically] this space has been relegated to secondary areas of the house, poorly lit and poorly ventilated, especially in small homes.”
      “One way to combat this is by placing the kitchen in better and open spaces, so that everyone, regardless of their gender, is challenged to take charge of this type of task,” they added.
      10K House was constructed using CNC-milled componentThe dwelling was constructed using CNC-milled components that were cut prior to arriving on-site and assembled using standard screws.
      Takk chose this method to encourage DIY when building a home, and armed the client with a small instruction manual that allowed them to assemble aspects of the apartment themselves “as if [the apartment] were a piece of furniture”.
      Takk was informed by soaring energy prices when designing the project10K House is based on a previous project by the architecture studio called The Day After House, which features similar “unprejudiced” design principles, according to Luzárraga and Muiño.
      The architects – who are also a couple – created a winter-themed bedroom for their young daughter by inserting a self-contained igloo-like structure within their home in Barcelona.
      The photography is by José Hevia.

      Read more: More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Rooms

      Parramon + Tahull adds tiled floors and bespoke joinery to refurbished Barcelona apartment

      by

      Barcelona studio Parramon + Tahull has renovated a traditional apartment in the city’s Gracia neighbourhood, adding birch plywood joinery and ceramic tiling to complement the building’s original features.

      The apartment is home to a family of four, which has lived there for several years and wanted to carry out a significant overhaul of the outdated interior.
      Parramon + Tahull has renovated an apartment in BarcelonaThe clients asked local architects Lluís Parramon and Emma Tahull to oversee the transformation of the space to provide an open living area and kitchen, along with separate bedrooms for each of their two daughters.
      The apartment is located on the upper floor of a five-storey building dating from the 1900s. A previous renovation undertaken around 20 years ago had altered the layout and destroyed most of the original features.
      The studio added bespoke joinery including a small built-in deskParramon + Tahull began by removing all of the existing partition walls in order to create a brighter and more practical series of spaces within the compact floor plan.

      The rearranged interior also provides plenty of usable storage and restores some of the original details, including wooden beams that had been painted white by the previous owners.
      Terracotta tiles cover floors throughout the apartment”We wanted to bring natural light into all the spaces and to achieve a sense of flowing, continuous space despite the limited surface area,” Tahull told Dezeen.
      “We were interested in working with natural materials and returning some of the original spirit of the building to the apartment.”
      Bespoke joinery is also provides storage in the bedroomsDue to its small size, the architects paid close attention to the choice of materials and layout in order to create a serene, spacious feel.
      “To achieve all the client’s goals, we had to work on a very precise scale of detail, designing all of the furniture to measure in order to take advantage of every square centimetre,” Tahull explained.

      NeuronaLab reorganises Barcelona loft with blue stair storage unit

      The interior utilises a palette of predominantly natural materials, chosen to complement the wooden beams while providing an element of tonal and textural contrast.
      Parramon + Tahull chose ceramic tiles from Spanish manufacturer Wow to create a continuous flooring surface throughout the entire apartment, including the kitchen and bathroom.
      Glossy white tiles clad the walls in the bathroom”We were looking for a small-format tile so the feeling of space would be bigger,” Tahull added. “We also wanted to play with a tapestry-like colour scheme that included white, because white gives a great luminosity and echoes the white of other elements.”
      The white and terracotta-coloured tiles include different formats, textures and surface finishes ranging from glossy to matte.
      White grout is used for the floors throughout the rooms, while the bathroom walls are clad in white tiles with contrasting reddish grout.
      Reddish grout provides a visual contrastBespoke fitted cabinetry made from birch plywood provides practical storage in every room, as well as in the hallway. Along with the tiles, the wood forms a consistent element that unites the spaces.
      Lluís Parramon and Emma Tahull founded their studio in 1997. The office focuses on delivering comfortable, contextual and energy-efficient architectural projects for private and commercial clients.
      The photography is by Judith Casas Sayós.

      Read more: More

    • 113 Shares139 Views

      in Rooms

      Wabi-sabi philosophy leads revamp of Palau apartment in Barcelona

      by

      Local studio Colombo and Serboli Architecture has completed a clean and contemporary renovation of an apartment in Barcelona, spotlighting some of its “imperfect” original features.

      The Palau apartment is situated a stone’s throw from the city’s Palau de la Música concert hall and backs onto a cluster of secluded courtyards.
      Colombo and Serboli Architecture has completed the Palau apartment in BarcelonaIts owner, an Italian fashion designer, had initially asked Colombo and Serboli Architecture to upgrade only the bathroom and closet storage. But the practice suggested carrying out a more extensive renovation that indulged the apartment’s lofty proportions.
      The practice also wanted to place greater emphasis on the home’s existing quirks in the spirit of wabi-sabi – the Japanese philosophy that celebrates the beauty of imperfections and the changes that come with the passage of time.
      The hallway still boasts the apartment’s original stucco walls”We decided to face the project through a wabi-sabi approach that could easily incorporate original features and imperfections while retaining the charm of the apartment,” the studio explained.

      “Shapes are kept simple and bold with recurring basic forms – squares, circles, spheres – while sturdy solid surfaces were used to combine the monumental language of existing elements.”
      Hollow steps in the new staircase hold cooking paraphernaliaThe apartment is entered via a narrow hallway, where the practice left much of the original stucco walls exposed to reveal “layers of history”.
      At the heart of the floor plan is a new multi-part staircase. It begins with a few suspended steps crafted from pale timber, followed by a micro-cement landing and a couple more timber steps.
      White cabinetry was installed in the kitchenThe bottom block of steps is painted white and dog-legs around the wall to form a planted backrest for a white boucle sofa.
      This small sitting area is dressed with a spherical paper lamp and a glass coffee table supported by terracotta orbs. Another large weathered patch of the apartment’s original stucco walls was preserved at the rear of the space.
      A 3.5-metre bookshelf towers over the living roomThe bottom section of the staircase also extends in the other direction to form a bench seat for the arched travertine table in the dining area. Steps facing this part of the home were hollowed out to accommodate crockery, recipe books and cooking ingredients.
      Nearby, an all-white kitchen suite is finished with a porcelain countertop and backsplash. A bespoke boxy kitchen hood made from brushed steel was installed above the stove.

      Deep-blue cabinetry and coral-pink arches redefine Barcelona apartment

      Just opposite the apartment’s sitting area is a larger double-height living room, illuminated by a tall corner window.
      At its base, Colombo and Serboli Architecture created a chunky micro-cement platform where the owner can perch and take in views across the courtyards.
      On the opposite side of the room, a 3.5-metre-high gridded shelf provides space for the owner to display his ever-growing collection of books and art objects.
      The bedroom i up on the mezzanine levelThe bedroom can be found on the apartment’s mezzanine level. One side of the room is taken over by a closet, which the studio fronted with wicker doors to turn it into a “warm monolith”.
      LED lighting fitted on top of the storage draws attention to the apartment’s time-worn wooden ceiling beams.
      Wicker doors front the lengthy closetOne door of the closet has a diagonal cut-out that functions as a handrail for the stairs, while another can be pulled back to reveal a small nook containing a mirror and washbasin.
      A third door hides the apartment’s bathroom, which is clad entirely in iridescent mother-of-pearl tiles.
      “We played with different finishes, from glossy to rough, against the otherwise neutral palette,” explained the practice.
      The bed’s wicker headboard doubles as a balustrade for the mezzanineThe same wicker used for the closet was wrapped around the bed’s headboard, which doubles as a balustrade for the mezzanine. Surrounding the headboard is a thick wooden ledge that forms two bedside tables.
      The space was otherwise modestly decorated with a vintage orange leather chair and a wobbly-edged mirror.
      The bathroom is concealed behind a closet doorColombo and Serboli Architecture, which is run by Italian architects Matteo Colombo and Andrea Serboli, has revamped a number of homes around Barcelona in recent years.
      Among them is the Klinker Apartment, which features brightly-coloured paintwork, and the Font 6 flat where a porthole window peeps through from the kitchen to the bathroom.
      The photography is by Roberto Ruiz.
      Project credits:
      Architecture: Colombo and Serboli ArchitectureStyling and art direction: CaSA

      Read more: More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in Rooms

      NeuronaLab reorganises Barcelona loft with blue stair storage unit

      by

      A large blue unit provides extra space and storage in a compact Barcelona apartment, which has been renovated by local architecture studio NeuronaLab.

      The renovation transforms Loft in Poblenou, a former studio loft, into a two-bedroom apartment with a separate, dedicated workspace.
      A blue unit divides the former studio apartmentThe owner bought the flat 10 years ago, when he was living alone.
      The space started to become cramped after his partner moved in and they had a baby. Things became even worse during the pandemic, with the couple needing to work from home, and their son increasingly needing more space.
      A living space and kitchen is created in front of the unit”The family had no choice but to have all their objects in the middle of the space; it was a real mess,” said NeuronaLab founder Ana Garcia.

      “The challenge was to make much better use of the volume, so that the new family would not have to change homes due to lack of space and order,” she told Dezeen.
      The unit creates storage and integrates a staircaseGarcia’s solution was to insert a large piece of furniture that informally divides the space into different zones and provides plenty of storage.
      She has also taken advantage of the loft’s high ceilings by installing a new mezzanine floor, which is accessed via a staircase built into the storage unit.
      With these two interventions, plus the relocation of the old bathroom, the apartment now has a completely different layout.
      A blue shade was chosen to contrast the wooden flooringThe space in front of the storage unit becomes an open-plan living and dining space. A bedroom and study are located behind, with the new bathroom sandwiched in between, while the mezzanine overhead creates a second bedroom.
      “Four spaces are generated that are similar in size and interchangeable with each other,” said Garcia.
      “On the other hand, the mezzanine allows a certain disorder on the higher level, which remains out of sight on a day-to-day basis, such as the toys or the children’s bed.”
      A mezzanine takes advantage of the high ceilingsGarcia developed two possible colour schemes for the space, with the owners eventually settling on blue rather than pink.
      An aquamarine shade was selected for its natural contrast with the warm tones of the loft’s wooden floorboards, which have been revived using water-based varnishes.

      Doehler loft renovation by SABO Project features an irregular clustered storage unit

      Made from pressed, recycled cellulose panels, this unit serves various different storage purposes. It contains the fridge-freezer and food larder, it serves as a wardrobe and it creates room for utility items such as an ironing board.
      The layout was carefully planned to ensure everything had a place.
      “We made a list of everything that we had to relocate in the proposed cabinets,” explained Garcia, “and we measured the approximate volume of storage needed.”
      This space provides one of two bedroomsGarcia was previously a founding director of Nook Architects, but recently left the practice to launch her own studio.
      Nook is a specialist in creating space-saving solutions for small homes, with previous examples including a flat with a storage floor and one with a mezzanine bed deck.
      Garcia continues this approach, but also introduced elements of psychology and neuroscience to her design process. Her aim is to create homes that don’t just work well, but also promote wellbeing.
      A second bedroom and study slot in under the mezzanine”At NeuronaLab, our initial questionnaires go far beyond the typical briefing of a project,” she explained. “We not only ask about the number of bedrooms, but we delve into a client’s routines, their lifestyle, their chronotype, if they receive guests, if they exercise at home and how they need the space to respond to the new needs of the home office.”
      “We also analyse the space from parameters beyond proportion or functionality,” she continued.
      “We visit the house at different times of the day to observe the change in the light that enters through the double facade, we analyse the cross ventilation, the smells and also the noise from the environment.”
      A new bathroom is sandwiched between these two roomsHere, she believes the combination of different lighting zones and heights more comfortably allow different domestic activities to coexist.
      “The higher height encourages common life and social relations with guests, and the lower height in the darkest area favours rest,” she added.
      The choice of materials supports this ambition. Garcia opted for breathable and moisture-absorbing products – including ceramic tiles by Matter Atelier – to improve air quality inside the home.
      Photography is by Marcela Grassi.

      Read more: More

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in Rooms

      Jeanne Schultz designs Passeig de Grácia apartment around period features

      by

      Ornamental details including a stone fireplace and a gilded mirror take centre stage in this minimal revamp of a Barcelona apartment overseen by Jeanne Schultz Design Studio.

      Located on Passeig de Grácia, the two-bedroom flat boasts a range of period features including a Catalan vault ceiling, wooden parquet flooring and an antique chandelier.
      Period details in the flat include a stone fireplace and wood panellingThese ornamental details command attention, yet Barcelona-based Schultz and her team have managed to make the interior feel bright and spacious by adding new furniture sparingly and adopting a sensitive colour strategy that enhances what’s already there.
      “We maintained almost all elements of the flat,” Schultz told Dezeen. “Architectural interventions were all in the interest of preserving the home and refinishing it.”
      Furniture was added sparingly to offer a minimalist feelPasseig de Grácia 97 is owned by a young entrepreneur who recently relocated from Paris. As he is often travelling, he wanted his home to feel both functional and peaceful.

      Schultz felt it was important to retain as many of the apartment’s existing features as possible, but to make them feel fresh by pairing them with characterful modern pieces.
      “The client wanted just the essentials, so the space is carefully curated,” she explained. “Each object plays with our core ideas of earthiness, handcrafted, local and comfortable.”
      Green tiles within the fireplace influenced the colour schemeThe starting point for her design was the living room, where a pink stone fireplace with chequered green tiles is set against a wall of wood panelling and shelves.
      “One the things that struck me most about the flat was the living room with its charm: all the existing wood shelving and millwork, the crown moulding and antique details,” said Schultz.
      Old patio doors were sanded and repaired, then repainted greenTo complement these elements, a green tone was added to doors, window frames and ceiling mouldings, to announce this room as the centre of the home.
      The same green features in the velvet dining chairs, which surround a wooden table at one end of the room.
      Other key details in this room include a curvy white armchair, a bulky black side table and a bulbous leather floor lamp.
      Walls are painted in subtly different shades of white, to enhance light contrastsFor the rest of the home, Schultz was keen to maintain the vistas through the floor plan.
      The flat has an unusual layout that contains no corridors. The lobby, kitchen, living room and dining space are laid out in sequence, connected by arched doorways, while two bedrooms and bathrooms are set alongside.

      Vilablanch and TDB Arquitectura have restored and revamped Barcelona’s Casa Burés

      “There is a linear focal point starting from the entry leading to the terrace, which allows for this amazing procession through the spaces,” said Schultz. “The sunlight hits all the way from the terrace to the entry.”
      To highlight the lighting contrasts, the walls in different rooms are painted in subtly different shades of white.
      Rooms in the apartment are arranged in sequence, connected by arched doorwaysThe gilded mirror was found in the apartment, but was deemed too large to be hung from a wall. Instead it is propped up in the corner of the main bedroom, offering cloudy grey reflections of the room.
      To balance the visual of this element and emphasise the high ceiling, Schultz chose a low, platform-style bed.
      A gilded mirror is the focal point in the main bedroomThe biggest challenge for the designer was the project timeline; she was given just five weeks to complete, which provided challenging when many existing elements – the patios, for instance – needed to be repaired.
      To ensure she completed on time, Schultz sourced all of the furniture from retailers with shops in Barcelona, including Dareels, Kave Home and Oliver.
      Other examples of refurbished apartments in Barcelona include a geometric design for a flat in Ricardo Bofill’s Walden 7 and a yellow scheme for a home in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi.
      Photography is by Adrià Goula.

      Read more: More

    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in Rooms

      Jagged MDF creates entire walls of storage for El Guateque apartments in Barcelona

      by

      Kitchens, bathrooms and storage spaces are slotted behind an MDF “scenography” in these apartments designed by architects Adrià Escolano and David Steegmann. Escolano and Steegmann created the two El Guateque apartments by converting a 160-square-metre self-build house from the 1950s. A refurbishment had previously been attempted in 2007, but was abandoned due to the financial […] More

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Rooms

      An Attic for David in Barcelona features a cosy interior crafted from MDF

      by

      Built-in furniture and storage elements made from MDF feature inside this Barcelona apartment, which has been overhauled by local architecture practice MH.AP Studio. Located in the city’s La Bordeta neighbourhood, An Attic for David features an abundance of built-in furniture, as well as carefully-positioned mirrors to make the home appear more spacious. MH.AP Studio was […] More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Rooms

      Bonell+Dòriga carries out understated overhaul of Walden 7 apartment

      by

      Architecture studio Bonell+Dòriga has revamped an apartment in Ricardo Bofill’s Walden 7 in Barcelona, dotting its interior with colourful geometric elements that reference the building’s facade. Located just outside of Barcelona in the town of Sant Just Desvern, Walden 7 is a residential block designed by Spanish architect Ricard Bofill. It was constructed in 1975 […] More