The starting point was two independent dwellings on top of each other on the ground floor and mezzanine of a modest, old apartment building between dividing walls in the heart of the Raval (Barcelona). Both dwellings were in an absolute state of neglect and disrepair. The client's requirement was to concentrate the main living spaces on the mezzanine floor and expand them on the ground floor with other spaces with more diffuse functions that could be used as living room, study, work area... The proposal is clear and direct: in the middle of the space, insert two 2-meter side squares rotated 45º over the dominant axis, their vertices overlapping without touching the original walls, and extruded through both floors.

© José Hevia

Architects: Raúl Sánchez
Location: El Raval, Barcelona, Spain

Area: 110.0 m2

Project Year: 2017

Photographs: José Hevia

Engineering: Marés ingenieros

Structure: Francisco Moyano

Architecture Collaborators: Pau Just, Victor Lorente

© José Hevia

Text description provided by the architects. The starting point was two independent dwellings on top of each other on the ground floor and mezzanine of a modest, old apartment building between dividing walls in the heart of the Raval (Barcelona). Both dwellings were in an absolute state of neglect and disrepair. The client's requirement was to concentrate the main living spaces on the mezzanine floor...