The project for Guallart Architects this time is to reforming two buildings that accommodate a small textile industry and a house in Igualada, near Barcelona. Nowadays, Rec neighborhood is in the middle of a transformation area. From an industrial tradition into a creative neighborhood that hosts artists, cultural, events and gastronomy.
The main project of this building is to make a space to live and the office inside. To make it happen, the architect emptying the buildings of slabs, patios, walls and pillars. Hence, demolishing, reinforcing, recycling and valuing buildings with a simple, popularly-based materials is becomes the base of this project.
The architect creates a ground floor with double-height space, with a book mezzanine and a large open fireplace in it. As for the first floor, around the old ventilation patio, they create a large, intermediate space for the children’s room. And on the upper floor, they create a spacious room from recycling the beams of the demolished floors. They repeat those for the the small business building, too, in order to creating a workspace with great material savings.
The facade that exposing the different materials and phases of its construction is an incorporating mural by Btoy, an artist which strengthen the cultural character of Rec Neighborhood.
