Social Housing at Can Batlló

The architecture studio Espinet / Ubach has completed a project consisting of 26 social housing units situated next to the emblematic old textile factory Can Batlló in Barcelona.

INTERIOR COURTYARD AS A HEAT ENGINE

A central courtyard is the driving element of the project, as it regulates the temperature of the building and acts as the epicentre of community life.

The residential building of Can Batlló is the result of a public competition organized by the Municipal Patronat de l’Habitatge de Barcelona (PMHB). It is located on a residual site, bordering the former textile factory of Can Batlló (which has been classified as ‘of public interest’), in the heart of the Sants district. The plot has three sides that look out onto varying urban landscapes.

The volume of the building stands on one hand at the end of the Carrer Parcerisa and on the other by a small passageway to a park that accommodates the main facade of the remains of Can Batlló.

Under the title ‘Opening Roads’, the competition presented the concept of a ‘wrapped’ structure of different heights, in accordance with local regulations on exterior and interior levels. This initial approach allowed us to explore the qualities of an interior courtyard, not only as a lighting and ventilation element, but also as an instrument of connection between the dwellings. The courtyard works as a climatic machine and has obtained very favourable results in the bioclimatic study of the building.

The programme presents a new way of understanding the internal layout of the dwellings. A ring of service areas has been placed around the courtyard, in the inner crown, and flexible living areas on the exterior facade.

The ‘skin’ of the building adapts to each façade and produces optimal visual assembly. The result is the subtle fractures in the façade, the de-orthogonally of the envelope, and the break in geometric order of the dividing walls.

The formal order arises from the centrality of the courtyard. More than a mere passageway to the apartments, it becomes an oculus that opens towards the sky, attracting the light of night and day, winter and summer. It is both a conduit of the exterior environment and expels undesirable atmospheric conditions that are produced in the interior of the building, thanks to the current of air it generates.

The building has a robust presence at street level. A porch shelters the entrance to the garage and enlarges the pedestrian access to the Can Batlló park. The treatment of facades reflects this intention; vivid white vertical perforations on the floors that accommodate the apartments and dark grey in the treatment of corrugated sheets on the ground floor. The building appears to ‘float’ thanks to this chromatic contrast.

THE WINDOWS

The size and shape of the windows reinforces this sensation. All the perforations on the facade are vertical in character and in one, two, or three modules; depending on the interior space they serve. In all cases, their closure consists of a system of folding aluminium shutters, a constructive solution that ensures simple manoeuvring and solid closing.

ACCESS

Access through the porch dictates an entry hall in which there are the rooms for connections, spaces for encounters, elevators and the protected staircase. The composition, located against the dividing wall, allows direct exit to the central courtyard, which also acts as a spatial distributor of the homes.

EL PATIO

The courtyard is fundamental piece of the structure of the building, acting as its thermal ‘chimney.’ This spatial structure acts likes a climatic engine that changes the heat (generated by solar infrareds), into an upward current of hot air, which counteracts with a cooler air from the environment. It uses natural energy as a driving force.

The courtyard is also a place of social activities, foot traffic, games and visual stimulation. Its enclosures, which act as light and sight filters, are constructed with galvanized metal plates placed in parallel (orthogonal on the level of the hand railing.) On the first floor, the courtyard rests on soil, allowing a circle of vegetation fed by rainwater.

The different regulatory heights of the façade allow interesting light inputs and a breakaway for the neighbourhood. They have avoided an excess of interior height.

THE DWELLINGS

The existence of the central courtyard (the main access to the apartments) has allowed us to construct six apartments per floor. All rooms enjoy natural, exterior light. The exception is the laundry that has interior light and ventilation.

The layouts in each one is practically identical; with two or three bedrooms and integrated kitchens, separated spatially by a small service table.

On the fifth floor, the configuration of volumes of the façade has allowed us to place two of the 4-bredroom duplex units of the three that exist in the project. The dividing wall is constituted as a separating element from the neighbouring building (it’s of a greater height) where we have situated the elevator motors, the installation room, and the opening of the staircase. A cat ladder leads to the highest point on the deck.