Gracia Home / Roman Izquierdo Bouldstridge

Gracia Home / Roman Izquierdo Bouldstridge

Textual content description supplied by the architects. The venture consists of the renovation of a novel dwelling situated in a modernist constructing from 1932, within the emblematic Barcelona neighborhood of Gràcia. It’s a 100 sq. meters dwelling for a pair who work primarily from dwelling, with the opportunity of beginning a household sooner or later.

The design proposes two methods that give a brand new architectural id to the place. The primary design choice establishes continuity between the street-facing façade and the inside of the block, by way of a succession of interconnected rooms for interchangeable use. It is a idea impressed by conventional Japanese homes. The second intervention goals to reinforce and get better the completely different attribute parts of the Catalan modernist motion, giving rise to a brand new environment the place the brand new and the previous mix in concord.

Construction and program. The unique home was fully compartmentalized with corridors and rooms barely linked to the outside. The primary intention was to open up the house and get better the ceramic vaulted ceiling, demolishing present partitions and false ceilings. The design takes benefit of the prevailing construction of the constructing, fashioned by a sequence of 5 load-bearing partitions perpendicular to the road, to create a easy and poetic language that generates a versatile program.

New openings have been made with structural reinforcements, to create 4 bays that join the road with the inside of the block. The primary bay homes the primary bedroom-dressing room-bathroom-gallery, the second the living-dining-kitchen-gallery, the third the hall-distributor-bathroom, and the fourth the 2 future youngsters’s bedrooms. This fashion, a larger notion of visible amplitude is generated, whereas selling pure cross-ventilation. The venture seeks to optimize the power effectivity of the home, in addition to promote the incidence of pure gentle within the deepest areas of the dwelling.

All of the boundaries between the completely different areas, besides the doorway door, include sliding chestnut doorways that glide in entrance of the white partitions. This technique creates versatile and diffuse boundaries that give rise to a dynamic composition the place the rooms could be associated, completely or partially, to one another. When the doorways are closed, every room is an entity in itself, whereas when the doorways are open, every room is a part of a unit. The doorways increase or contract the house whereas offering privateness to the customers. Within the kitchen, slender glass sliding doorways promote the incidence of pure gentle from the gallery, permitting for acoustic insulation from the living-dining room space.

Modernism and materiality. The design highlights the unique architectural heritage, recovering the id of the modernist constructing parts. Current ceramic vaults and previous ceilings with moldings are restored, in search of concord with the brand new venture supplies. The presence of white partitions provides extra gentle to the house, whereas the wooden of the sliding doorways and the flooring create a heat environment.

In the primary rest room, the micro cement partitions and flooring create a cohesive and harmonious design with the excessive ceilings adorned with moldings. The freestanding bathtub stands as a sculptural ceramic factor that aligns with the formal language of bathtub bowls. One other attribute factor of the modernist motion is the gallery fashioned by arched glazed picket carpentry. These carpentries, along with the remainder of the home windows of the home, are restored and painted white, sustaining their singular aesthetic character and highlighting the reminiscence of the place.