Studio Banana TV interviews Callís-Wortham, authors of the elderly people’s apartment block in Barris Nous, Barcelona.
Project for 50 rental dwellings for elderly people.
“Respect” for the existing buildings as a presence, a reminder of the district. Build around it, paying careful attention to the way its physical surroundings are appropriated, and taking the predominant image into account…
The proposed building starts with the existing house and spreads to the opposite end of the lot, acknowledging the pre-existing traces, memories and images with its folds and cantilevers.
The park provides a clue: this is a children’s game, it is not a place for memories. It is the site of our first house, a secret, happy world: the islands, the water, the bridge, the trees…
The house floats amongst the trees, above the lake… the very same trees that shelter and define it.
Building programme
Project brief:
50 x 40m2 rental dwellings for elderly people
2 x 50 m2 multipurpose halls
20 m2 laundry
2x 20 m2 cleaning rooms
50 m2 reception and foyer
30 m2 office
Parking spaces for 12 cars and 5 motorbikes.
Site
The elongated side takes a north-south orientation, with a 3 m height difference between the two extremes. The building on the south-east corner is classified as part of the city’s architectural heritage. The northern boundary of the allotment lies inside the Nou Barris Central Park. The tiers in this park define a boundary on different levels. The total area of the allotment is 1441m2.
Explanation of the chosen solution
The fragmented volumetrics of the building provides a response on the one hand, to the scale of the classified historic building 7b(p), and on the other hand, to the direct relationship with the Nou Barris Central Park. The proposed volumetrics incorporates the existing building by means of an open ‘courtyard’ which facilitates the definition of a unitary proposal.
The building has a ground floor plus four storeys which, due to the slope on Paseo de Urrutia, end up as five stories on the corner of Paseo de Fabra i Puig. The interface between the new construction and the existing building is only along the party wall in order to avoid changes to the frontages of the classified building. The new building has the same height as the existing building in the contact zone.
The project incorporates the tiers in the park, converting them into an entrance stairway to the building.
The mezzanine basement holds the car park and the electricity transformer equipment.
