Architect, Ph.D. in Arch., and Associate Professor at the Department of Architectural Design, Vallès School of Architecture ETSAV, UPC-BarcelonaTech. Director of ETSAV and CRAL Research Centre on Architecture. Also researcher at Habitar (http://habitar.upc.edu/). His academic and research aims are focused on re-inhabiting the existing urban fabric and buildings as part of a strategy to develop a sustainable environment on the basis of reprogramming and adapting architecture to new paradigms of habitability.
This paper addresses socio-ecological, community-led resilience as the ability of the urban syste... more This paper addresses socio-ecological, community-led resilience as the ability of the urban system to progress and adapt. This is based on the socio-cultural, self-organized case study of CanFugarolas in Mataró (Barcelona), for the recovery of a derelict industrial building and given the lack of attention to resilience emerging from grassroots. Facing rigidities (stagnation) observed under the provisions of urban regeneration policies (regulatory realm), evidenced in the proliferation of urban voids (infrastructural arena), the social subsystem stands as the enabler of urban progression. Under the heuristics of the Adaptive Cycle and Panarchy, the study embraces Fath’s model to analyze the transition along, and the interactions between, the adaptive cycles at each urban subsystem. The mixed method approach reveals the ability of the community to navigate all stages and overcome successive ailments, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles (traps) at the physical support (built sto...
The relationship of Le Corbusier with the street is complex and sometimes contradictory. young Je... more The relationship of Le Corbusier with the street is complex and sometimes contradictory. young Jeanneret seems to be persuaded by certain sites, which we may define as urban scenarios, during his visits to cities like Istanbul in his formative years. Unlike his hometown La Chaux-de-Fonds – identified by a regular set of streets – these places may have been a picturesque coun- terpoint activated by a significant topography. Streets meandering along a set of ‘Dom-ino’ houses in the Oeuvre complete, as the tracking rails of a long shot recording, offer a changing viewpoint that may be considered in relation with such casual arrangements. The claim to kill the ‘rue corridor’ made in Précisions, together with his later writings, deeply contrast with his own comments on an empty Paris in the summer of 1942 – as published in Les Trois Établissements Humains – praising the same streets he pretended to erase by means of operations like the ‘Ilôt Insalubre No 6′.
Habitar de nuevo, volver a habitar, reestrenar; volvera usar de la manera más simple, desinhibida... more Habitar de nuevo, volver a habitar, reestrenar; volvera usar de la manera más simple, desinhibida y verdadera, con la seguridad de que los espacios que habitamos, más que someterse a reformas, deben reformar el modo de usarse, considerando el habitar como ...
Altres identificadors i accés: Monteys, X.; Crespo, I.; Fuertes, P. El Curs d'Introducció a ... more Altres identificadors i accés: Monteys, X.; Crespo, I.; Fuertes, P. El Curs d'Introducció a la Carrera d'Arquitectura: experiències i perspectives. A: Jornades sobre la reforma acadèmica a la UPC." Jornades sobre la reforma acadèmica a la UPC". Barcelona: Servei de ...
This article covers two chapters of the Rehabitar project which refer to the street [3], to groun... more This article covers two chapters of the Rehabitar project which refer to the street [3], to ground floor premises [4] and to all that which makes it possible to consider them together. Domesticating the street aims to return the condition of public space to urban space, encouraging social relations through a reflection on the nature of the street itself, on the uses to which it can be put –recovering others which have been abandoned or banned– and on the ability of ground floor premises to give energy to the street. Este artículo reúne dos episodios del proyecto Rehabitar que hacen referencia a la calle [3], a las plantas bajas [4] y a todo aquello que hace posible considerarlas de manera conjunta. Domesticar la calle tiene como objetivo devolver al espacio urbano su carácter de lugar público, alentando las relaciones sociales a través de una reflexión sobre las características de la propia calle, sobre los usos que pueden desarrollarse en ella –recuperando otros que se han abandonado o proscrito– y sobre la capacidad de las plantas bajas para prestar a la calle su energía.
Rehabitar las plantas bajas es parte de una estrategia para revitalizar las calles extendiendo ha... more Rehabitar las plantas bajas es parte de una estrategia para revitalizar las calles extendiendo hacia ellas la riqueza de las actividades interiores, contagiando en ocasiones el carácter de lo doméstico; diluyendo, en definitiva, los límites con lo público. Tiene por objetivo incentivar usos que reconsideren las antiguas pero cada vez más vigentes relaciones entre el trabajo y el hogar, capaces de sacar partido a las cualidades distintivas de la planta baja y evitar el deterioro de la vida social dando nuevo uso a tantos locales desocupados.
The origin of Barcelona’s food system can be determined at the time when open-air markets were mo... more The origin of Barcelona’s food system can be determined at the time when open-air markets were moved to covered spaces. Since then, market halls have adapted to many different scenarios: they have ...
Market halls show the pulse of Barcelona. The relationships they establish with the city, the str... more Market halls show the pulse of Barcelona. The relationships they establish with the city, the street and the house can be described by nine terms that define the urban profile that fresh food helps to shape: organising, covering, extracting, equipping, fitting, attracting, overflowing, cooking, and eating. The market has an ability to attract due to the sensations awoken by food on display, to establish a bridge to the home kitchens where food is prepared, to overflow activity towards the streets and squares that lead to it, and to help the city fit into its surroundings. The renovations initiated three decades ago have significantly transformed the role of market halls to guarantee their survival and keep them alive under the protective covers that, in the past, determined the relationship between the city and food – after the elimination from the streets of the inconveniences traditionally linked to food trade. While other European cities that built a network of public markets have given up due to changes in the commercial distribution of food, Barcelona has come to terms with this phenomenon and, at the beginning of the 21st century, maintains and renovates its 38 municipal markets, a living heritage that provides a strategy for access to fresh foods and which, through food, conditions the city around them.
This paper addresses socio-ecological, community-led resilience as the ability of the urban syste... more This paper addresses socio-ecological, community-led resilience as the ability of the urban system to progress and adapt. This is based on the socio-cultural, self-organized case study of CanFugarolas in Mataró (Barcelona), for the recovery of a derelict industrial building and given the lack of attention to resilience emerging from grassroots. Facing rigidities (stagnation) observed under the provisions of urban regeneration policies (regulatory realm), evidenced in the proliferation of urban voids (infrastructural arena), the social subsystem stands as the enabler of urban progression. Under the heuristics of the Adaptive Cycle and Panarchy, the study embraces Fath’s model to analyze the transition along, and the interactions between, the adaptive cycles at each urban subsystem. The mixed method approach reveals the ability of the community to navigate all stages and overcome successive ailments, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles (traps) at the physical support (built sto...
The relationship of Le Corbusier with the street is complex and sometimes contradictory. young Je... more The relationship of Le Corbusier with the street is complex and sometimes contradictory. young Jeanneret seems to be persuaded by certain sites, which we may define as urban scenarios, during his visits to cities like Istanbul in his formative years. Unlike his hometown La Chaux-de-Fonds – identified by a regular set of streets – these places may have been a picturesque coun- terpoint activated by a significant topography. Streets meandering along a set of ‘Dom-ino’ houses in the Oeuvre complete, as the tracking rails of a long shot recording, offer a changing viewpoint that may be considered in relation with such casual arrangements. The claim to kill the ‘rue corridor’ made in Précisions, together with his later writings, deeply contrast with his own comments on an empty Paris in the summer of 1942 – as published in Les Trois Établissements Humains – praising the same streets he pretended to erase by means of operations like the ‘Ilôt Insalubre No 6′.
Habitar de nuevo, volver a habitar, reestrenar; volvera usar de la manera más simple, desinhibida... more Habitar de nuevo, volver a habitar, reestrenar; volvera usar de la manera más simple, desinhibida y verdadera, con la seguridad de que los espacios que habitamos, más que someterse a reformas, deben reformar el modo de usarse, considerando el habitar como ...
Altres identificadors i accés: Monteys, X.; Crespo, I.; Fuertes, P. El Curs d'Introducció a ... more Altres identificadors i accés: Monteys, X.; Crespo, I.; Fuertes, P. El Curs d'Introducció a la Carrera d'Arquitectura: experiències i perspectives. A: Jornades sobre la reforma acadèmica a la UPC." Jornades sobre la reforma acadèmica a la UPC". Barcelona: Servei de ...
This article covers two chapters of the Rehabitar project which refer to the street [3], to groun... more This article covers two chapters of the Rehabitar project which refer to the street [3], to ground floor premises [4] and to all that which makes it possible to consider them together. Domesticating the street aims to return the condition of public space to urban space, encouraging social relations through a reflection on the nature of the street itself, on the uses to which it can be put –recovering others which have been abandoned or banned– and on the ability of ground floor premises to give energy to the street. Este artículo reúne dos episodios del proyecto Rehabitar que hacen referencia a la calle [3], a las plantas bajas [4] y a todo aquello que hace posible considerarlas de manera conjunta. Domesticar la calle tiene como objetivo devolver al espacio urbano su carácter de lugar público, alentando las relaciones sociales a través de una reflexión sobre las características de la propia calle, sobre los usos que pueden desarrollarse en ella –recuperando otros que se han abandonado o proscrito– y sobre la capacidad de las plantas bajas para prestar a la calle su energía.
Rehabitar las plantas bajas es parte de una estrategia para revitalizar las calles extendiendo ha... more Rehabitar las plantas bajas es parte de una estrategia para revitalizar las calles extendiendo hacia ellas la riqueza de las actividades interiores, contagiando en ocasiones el carácter de lo doméstico; diluyendo, en definitiva, los límites con lo público. Tiene por objetivo incentivar usos que reconsideren las antiguas pero cada vez más vigentes relaciones entre el trabajo y el hogar, capaces de sacar partido a las cualidades distintivas de la planta baja y evitar el deterioro de la vida social dando nuevo uso a tantos locales desocupados.
The origin of Barcelona’s food system can be determined at the time when open-air markets were mo... more The origin of Barcelona’s food system can be determined at the time when open-air markets were moved to covered spaces. Since then, market halls have adapted to many different scenarios: they have ...
Market halls show the pulse of Barcelona. The relationships they establish with the city, the str... more Market halls show the pulse of Barcelona. The relationships they establish with the city, the street and the house can be described by nine terms that define the urban profile that fresh food helps to shape: organising, covering, extracting, equipping, fitting, attracting, overflowing, cooking, and eating. The market has an ability to attract due to the sensations awoken by food on display, to establish a bridge to the home kitchens where food is prepared, to overflow activity towards the streets and squares that lead to it, and to help the city fit into its surroundings. The renovations initiated three decades ago have significantly transformed the role of market halls to guarantee their survival and keep them alive under the protective covers that, in the past, determined the relationship between the city and food – after the elimination from the streets of the inconveniences traditionally linked to food trade. While other European cities that built a network of public markets have given up due to changes in the commercial distribution of food, Barcelona has come to terms with this phenomenon and, at the beginning of the 21st century, maintains and renovates its 38 municipal markets, a living heritage that provides a strategy for access to fresh foods and which, through food, conditions the city around them.
Experiencing and Envisioning Food. Designing for Change, 2024
This article presents some graphic explorations to represent urban food procurement in Barcelona,... more This article presents some graphic explorations to represent urban food procurement in Barcelona, a metropolis characterised by a unique system based on 90 public market halls and 76 weekly open-air markets that allow access to groceries and catalyse retail and proximity services around them. The research is part of a larger investigation that sustains the hypothesis that urban form is closely related to food supply systems so that the way in which a city feeds its citizens constitutes a unique 'foodprint', related to its compactness, density, diversity and equity.
Five brief reflections on Le Corbusier’s work + LC 150+ : the RT+Q collection of models of Le Corbusier’s buildings and projects, 2023
Bioclimatic architecture was first described in the mid-1950s in the American academic community ... more Bioclimatic architecture was first described in the mid-1950s in the American academic community and the use of the term became widespread with the publication of the book Design with climate (1963) by the architect Victor Olgyay. We can define it as the capacity to produce conditions of habitability from local environmental resources, or we can simply refer to the title of the book and describe it as design with climate. The range of strategies that this notion implies is present, to a greater or lesser extent, in vernacular buildings but was not necessarily a common ingredient in the architecture of the early Modernism, when reliance on technology led to a certain disinterest or scepticism about this expertise. Considering the time span between the work of Le Corbusier and Olgyay’s definition, the use of the term bioclimatism should be taken with due caution. Nevertheless, it is still possible to observe his work through this prism avant-la-lettre and verify to what extent there are converging strategies and under what conditions they occur.
De todas las definiciones posibles de habitación, este ensayo aborda aquéllas que se proponen com... more De todas las definiciones posibles de habitación, este ensayo aborda aquéllas que se proponen como espacio propio del individuo y como unidad, por oposición a la idea de fragmento de una entidad mayor. La primera asunción nos conduce, con cierta facilidad, a considerar la intimidad como cualidad elemental de la habitación. La segunda, parte del principio de autonomía que le permite establecer relaciones con otras piezas de igual o distinta naturaleza. La habitación aquí considerada es un espacio simultáneamente íntimo y autónomo.
Este ensayo reúne un conjunto de observaciones que tienen a la casa como centro. Se propone, así,... more Este ensayo reúne un conjunto de observaciones que tienen a la casa como centro. Se propone, así, un modo de estudio indirecto; no a través de la historia de la casa ni de su clasificación tipológica; ni de los hitos de la arquitectura residencial. Del conjunto de aspectos que guardan relación con la casa, se ha dado prioridad a los que inciden en los usos más que en la forma y la construcción.
Del conjunto de reflexiones que se agrupan aquí, se desprende una cierta idea de casa, tal vez ligada a las experiencias; un 'collage', una especie de casa formada por distintas ideas e hipótesis que, inevitablemente, no cabe en una sola casa. Esta casa 'collage' sólo cabe en la mente de quienes la imaginan y construirla sería, necesariamente, construir una parte de estos argumentos.
La mudanza es un estado de ánimo. Al hacer mudanza hacemos balance e inventario de la casa, pero ... more La mudanza es un estado de ánimo. Al hacer mudanza hacemos balance e inventario de la casa, pero también de nuestra vida. Ese estado de ánimo y la forma que toman los muebles y objetos embalados, listos para su expedición, son una promesa -un proyecto-, tanto de colonizar la nueva casa, como de organizar la vieja de manera distinta. La mudanza es la manera más económica, fácil y reversible de rehabitar.
Este episodio se propone observar los edificios desocupados y en estado de abandono como oportuni... more Este episodio se propone observar los edificios desocupados y en estado de abandono como oportunidades que permitan revitalizar la ciudad desde su interior, ensayando alternativas al derribo e incorporando nuevos usos, como la vivienda, para lo cual se cuestionan las operaciones necesarias para reactivarlos.
Durante los últimos años, una parte delparque de viviendas en nuestras ciudades se ha ido dotando... more Durante los últimos años, una parte delparque de viviendas en nuestras ciudades se ha ido dotando de ascensores para mejorar su accesibilidad. En el contexto de estas obras de reparación es donde nos gustaría hacer algunas observaciones que pueden servir para ver el problema inicial –no disponer de ascensor– como una oportunidad.
Nuestras viviendas actuales se piensan y se construyen con un gran predominio de la sala de estar... more Nuestras viviendas actuales se piensan y se construyen con un gran predominio de la sala de estar sobre el resto de piezas. Rehabitar: fuera de lugar, es una invitación a modificar esa estructura de usos establecida como una forma de crítica aplicada; incitando el interés del habitante y dotándolo de algunos recursos para recomponer las partes de la vivienda en otro orden, para explorar mezclas inesperadas, para atreverse a acortar las distancias entre la distribución de su casa y su modo de vida.
Más puertas es una invitación a rehabitar nuestros hogares planteando como estrategia de cambio l... more Más puertas es una invitación a rehabitar nuestros hogares planteando como estrategia de cambio la cantidad, situación y características de sus puertas. Podemos modificar la forma de usar las estancias de la casa si las imaginamos como entidades agregables o coordinables mediante una operación de una gran economía de medios: el uso de puertas que las pongan en relación.
Rehabitar las plantas bajas es parte de una estrategia para revitalizar las calles extendiendo ha... more Rehabitar las plantas bajas es parte de una estrategia para revitalizar las calles extendiendo hacia ellas la riqueza de las actividades interiores, contagiando en ocasiones el carácter
de lo doméstico; diluyendo, en definitiva, los límites con lo público. Tiene por objetivo incentivar usos que reconsideren las antiguas pero cada vez más vigentes relaciones entre el
trabajo y el hogar, capaces de sacar partido a las cualidades distintivas de la planta baja y evitar el deterioro de la vida social dando nuevo uso a tantos locales desocupados.
Rehabitar la calle es un ensayo que tiene como objetivo devolver al espacio urbano su carácter de... more Rehabitar la calle es un ensayo que tiene como objetivo devolver al espacio urbano su carácter de lugar público, alentando las relaciones sociales a través de una reflexión sobre las características de la propia calle y sobre los usos que pueden desarrollarse en él recuperando, en algún caso, otros que se han proscrito.
Un modo de rehabitar nuestros edificios de viviendas es dotarlos de un número de habitaciones equ... more Un modo de rehabitar nuestros edificios de viviendas es dotarlos de un número de habitaciones equipadas y autónomas que permitan a la casa crecer temporalmente conforme a las necesidades de sus inquilinos. A estas habitaciones, por su peculiar relación con las viviendas del inmueble, las denominamos habitaciones satélite.
Habitar de nuevo, volver a habitar, volver a usar de la manera más simple, desinhibida y verdader... more Habitar de nuevo, volver a habitar, volver a usar de la manera más simple, desinhibida y verdadera, con la seguridad de que los espacios que habitamos, más que someterse a reformas, deben reformar el modo de usarse. Considerar
habitar como un gesto amplio que contiene todos los usos de la arquitectura.
The Mitre apartment building was erected in Barcelona between 1959 and 1964 by architect Francisc... more The Mitre apartment building was erected in Barcelona between 1959 and 1964 by architect Francisco Juan Barba Corsini (Tarragona, 1916 - Barcelona, 2008) to house 298 suggestive compact dwellings for rental. This monographic book offers a multifaceted view of this piece of modernist architecture, probably one of the last episodes before neorealism emerged as a prevailing movement in Catalonia during the following decade.
The building is introduced by Barba Corsini himself. After that, the authors discuss about the design process, the way the building is explained to future inhabitants, the layout of the apartments or the common services offered, to end with a photographic report showing the vitality of today’s apartments as compared to an original picture taken by F. Català-Roca from the same viewpoint.
Il sito http://corsiarchitettura.uniroma3.it/LabSA/ raccoglie i lavori del Laboratorio di Laurea ... more Il sito http://corsiarchitettura.uniroma3.it/LabSA/ raccoglie i lavori del Laboratorio di Laurea del Dipartimento di Architettura di Roma Tre. Una struttura di ricerca e didattica che opera nel Dipartimento e organizza incontri, proiezioni di film e documentari, discussioni sui temi dell'abitare. The website of our research Unit about dwelling spaces. Please write us if you are interested in sharing knowledge about the themes. We organize workshops, discussions, presentations.
Conference Proceedings – XXIX International Seminar on Urban Form ISUF 2022: Urban Redevelopment and Revitalisation. A Multidisciplinary Perspective, 2023
This paper analyses the role of weekly markets in the food supply system in metropolitan Barcelon... more This paper analyses the role of weekly markets in the food supply system in metropolitan Barcelona, understanding their form, measures and urban role in relation to market halls and other grocery stores. Quantitative-in relation to the population they serve, the area they occupy, the distances they are from other providers-and qualitative-about what types of food and what variety they offer-approaches are based on drawings made by the authors that try to capture the architectural form and urban insertion of these food suppliers. At a time when proximity has set the agenda of urban interventions; and in which tactical and strategic urban planning are part of ongoing metropolitan transformations, looking at this ephemeral formalization of essential commerce acquires a structural meaning related to urban form. The topic addressed is part of an investigation started in 2018 that relates the urban form of Barcelona with the food supply system. The specific look at the existing weekly markets aims to prove the effectiveness of these pieces as tools to strengthen the metropolitan food system.
12th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions SAHC 2020, 2021
Certain architectural structures have the ability to persist over time when a building undergoes ... more Certain architectural structures have the ability to persist over time when a building undergoes a change of use. This is the case of patios, according to the conclusions of a study focused on the reused buildings of Barcelona recently developed. The survey of this architectural element should enable us to better understand the behaviour of these buildings. If we define the open-air inner courtyard of a building as a patio, this study is especially interested in those who have the capacity to organize spaces, systematize circulations — along with stairs and corridors — and configure the building as a whole. This set of structuring patios particularly applies in a dense city like Barcelona because their position and size also provide liveability to interior rooms. In light of these qualities, such patios can be regarded as an essential piece of both the formal and the bearing structure of a building. The location and attributes of these patios can be associated with the potential for adaptive reuse: they can help achieve a lower impact on the architectural and formal structure of a renovated building, when used appropriately. Hence the patio can be seen as an indicator of how a new programme adapts to the existing support. 171 out of 565 buildings documented and analysed in Barcelona — a thirty percent of the overall — have at least one patio of a kind whose characteristics have outlived one or more renovation processes. The percentage rises to 50% in Ciutat Vella and Eixample districts, where density and architectural typology make them particularly relevant. Buildings with patios match different uses and periods from the 11th to the 20th century. In spite of the expected differences, the studio draws conclusions on the understanding of material transformations and changes of use they have undergone. In short, with regard to buildings included in this category — both heritage and common ones — this paper helps verify the hypothesis that the very existence of a patio is responsible for the persistence of the internal arrangement and structure and must be carefully considered in future interventions when addressed to extend the life-cycle of a building.
R. Lastman (ed.), AMPS Proceedings Series 19.1. The City and Complexity – Life, Design and Commerce in the Built Environment, 2020
Each city has a characteristic food system, so that for each urban form, a specific way of feedin... more Each city has a characteristic food system, so that for each urban form, a specific way of feeding the population can be described. In the words of Susan Parham, “food spaces reflect location responsive spatial qualities which have been developed and expressed over the long term: time-tested design qualities that are argued to contribute to a food related sense of place that can be discern across many times and places”. The specific local response in Barcelona is made up by of multi-scalar system distributed homogeneously throughout the city. The most specific element that makes it up is a set of thirty-eight public food market halls, which are complemented by a private system formed by 1,997 specialty grocery stores and 2,331 supermarkets that provide fresh edibles to citizens. Although percentages show a downward trend, market halls supply forty-four percent of fish and seafood, thirty-four percent of meat, and pork, and twenty-three percent of fruit and vegetables consumed in the urban kitchens. The majority of Barcelonans, accustomed to buying fresh food in the immediate surroundings of their residences, could do so in a market hall.
Abitare la terra : rivista di geoarchitettura = Dwelling on Earth : a magazine of geoarchitecture : XVIII, 50 supplemento, 2019
We receive from the past and we are ethically bound to return in the future. The built environmen... more We receive from the past and we are ethically bound to return in the future. The built environment – our legacy – does not belong to us: future generations will own it. When that time becomes present, it will not belong to those generations either. Riceviamo dal passato e siamo eticamente obbligati a restituire nel futuro. L’ambiente costruito, che è ciò che ereditiamo, non ci appartiene: ne saranno proprietarie le generazioni future; ma quel tempo, una volta diventato presente, non apparterrà neanche a quelle generazioni.
CITIES IN TRANSFORMATION RESEARCH & DESIGN Ideas, Methods, Techniques, Tools, Case Studies, 2014
Reinhabiting is a research project that considers existing buildings and public spaces in Spain a... more Reinhabiting is a research project that considers existing buildings and public spaces in Spain as opportunities for a new approach to the way we inhabit. The word involves inhabiting again, in an intensive simple manner, rethinking how spaces can be used – more than undertaking unnecessary alterations. The term “reinhabiting” was developed by Habitar –a research group of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC– during the years 2010 and 2011, in the context of a R&D project which results where shown in 6 exhibitions at Nuevos Ministerios Gallery of Madrid. The project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Housing. The index of the exhibitions was defined by nine themes –episodes– which have become nine small books. The contents of all exhibitions can be consulted online and we encourage their observation parallel to the reading of this text. This article is focused on the proposals that emerged during the preparation of the project and develops the theoretical framework and architectural context from which they arise.
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Considering the time span between the work of Le Corbusier and Olgyay’s definition, the use of the term bioclimatism should be taken with due caution. Nevertheless, it is still possible to observe his work through this prism avant-la-lettre and verify to what extent there are converging strategies and under what conditions they occur.
Del conjunto de reflexiones que se agrupan aquí, se desprende una cierta idea de casa, tal vez ligada a las experiencias; un 'collage', una especie de casa formada por distintas ideas e hipótesis que, inevitablemente, no cabe en una sola casa. Esta casa 'collage' sólo cabe en la mente de quienes la imaginan y construirla sería, necesariamente, construir una parte de estos argumentos.
de lo doméstico; diluyendo, en definitiva, los límites con lo público. Tiene por objetivo incentivar usos que reconsideren las antiguas pero cada vez más vigentes relaciones entre el
trabajo y el hogar, capaces de sacar partido a las cualidades distintivas de la planta baja y evitar el deterioro de la vida social dando nuevo uso a tantos locales desocupados.
habitar como un gesto amplio que contiene todos los usos de la arquitectura.
The building is introduced by Barba Corsini himself. After that, the authors discuss about the design process, the way the building is explained to future inhabitants, the layout of the apartments or the common services offered, to end with a photographic report showing the vitality of today’s apartments as compared to an original picture taken by F. Català-Roca from the same viewpoint.
The website of our research Unit about dwelling spaces.
Please write us if you are interested in sharing knowledge about the themes.
We organize workshops, discussions, presentations.
If we define the open-air inner courtyard of a building as a patio, this study is especially interested in those who have the capacity to organize spaces, systematize circulations — along with stairs and corridors — and configure the building as a whole. This set of structuring patios particularly applies in a dense city like Barcelona because their position and size also provide liveability to interior rooms. In light of these qualities, such patios can be regarded as an essential piece of both the formal and the bearing structure of a building.
The location and attributes of these patios can be associated with the potential for adaptive reuse: they can help achieve a lower impact on the architectural and formal structure of a renovated building, when used appropriately. Hence the patio can be seen as an indicator of how a new programme adapts to the existing support. 171 out of 565 buildings documented and analysed in Barcelona — a thirty percent of the overall — have at least one patio of a kind whose characteristics have outlived one or more renovation processes. The percentage rises to 50% in Ciutat Vella and Eixample districts, where density and architectural typology make them particularly relevant.
Buildings with patios match different uses and periods from the 11th to the 20th century. In spite of the expected differences, the studio draws conclusions on the understanding of material transformations and changes of use they have undergone.
In short, with regard to buildings included in this category — both heritage and common ones — this paper helps verify the hypothesis that the very existence of a patio is responsible for the persistence of the internal arrangement and structure and must be carefully considered in future interventions when addressed to extend the life-cycle of a building.
The specific local response in Barcelona is made up by of multi-scalar system distributed homogeneously throughout the city. The most specific element that makes it up is a set of thirty-eight public food market halls, which are complemented by a private system formed by 1,997 specialty grocery stores and 2,331 supermarkets that provide fresh edibles to citizens. Although percentages show a downward trend, market halls supply forty-four percent of fish and seafood, thirty-four percent of meat, and pork, and twenty-three percent of fruit and vegetables consumed in the urban kitchens. The majority of Barcelonans, accustomed to buying fresh food in the immediate surroundings of their residences, could do so in a market hall.
Riceviamo dal passato e siamo eticamente obbligati a restituire nel futuro. L’ambiente costruito, che è ciò che ereditiamo, non ci appartiene: ne saranno proprietarie le generazioni future; ma quel tempo, una volta diventato presente, non apparterrà neanche a quelle generazioni.
The term “reinhabiting” was developed by Habitar –a research group of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC– during the years 2010 and 2011, in the context of a R&D project which results where shown in 6 exhibitions at Nuevos Ministerios Gallery of Madrid. The project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Housing. The index of the exhibitions was defined by nine themes –episodes– which have become nine small books. The contents of all exhibitions can be consulted online and we encourage their observation parallel to the reading of this text. This article is focused on the proposals that emerged during the preparation of the project and develops the theoretical framework and architectural context from which they arise.