Apartment Refurbishment in Barcelona / Alventosa Morell Arquitectes

Architects: Alventosa Morell Arquitectes
Location: Nou Barris, Barcelona, España
Architects In Charge: Josep Ma. Alventosa, Marc Alventosa, Xavier Morell
Area: 67.0 sqm
Year: 2015
Photographs: Adrià Goula

Principal Builder: BBB Jordi
Wood Finishes And Wood Windows: Soldevila Construcció i decoració en fusta.

From the architect. The project consists of a total interior rehabilitation of a small flat, built at the beginning of the XX century. Our challenge in this project was to redesign some spaces to get bigger and comfortable ambients.

It was in very bad conditions and with too many rooms, spaces, in a small net floor area; so the approach to the project has been to intervene as much as possible in its original rooms distribution.

The intervention has created an update flat, in terms of functionality, performance and comfort, just with:

-Eliminating the wall from the previous bathroom to design a dining room with more natural light and increase the feeling of spaciousness.

-Changing the location of the kitchen. Now in a new space in the middle of the flat, independent but opened to the new dining room and the living room.

-Creating a volume made of oak wood that integrates the cupboards in the kitchen with the two doors giving access to the existing bedrooms.

-Locating the new bathroom where the kitchen was before.

After designing these four ideas about distribution we wanted to keep old valuable materials. We restored the ancient hydraulic mosaic, and the interior wooden doors. We had to change the old windows, though, to make the flat more comfortable. This old hydraulic mosaic is now an important decorative element in the flat.

Even though the budget was quite short, all the rooms have been resolved with modern criteria and materials. We reduced the cost to the minimum, without loosing the right feeling.