The shine and reflections of a frosted brass piece of furniture seduce the visitor as soon as they enter this home. It is about the luxurious finish with which the kitchen has been dressed, as atypical as the entire house. A complex and lengthy project (it lasted eight years), in Barcelona's Born, led by architect Raúl Sánchez, to give life to a building in ruins. At the back of the room, another element catches the eye: a snowy spiral staircase made of metal sheet that connects the four floors of the house.
The dilapidated state of the property, from the end of the 19th century, and the adaptation of the building to current regulations determined the complete interior demolition. Only the facades and party walls were maintained. After this phase of execution, the architect explains that the interior emerged as a slender and tall prism delimited by walls of heterogeneous composition with all types of bricks and stones, arranged without apparent order or composition.
“The idea of leaving these walls visible became conceptual,” says Raúl Sánchez. These four walls, more than 15 meters high, are a museum of the history of the building, where any trace of construction (arches, lintels, gaps in old steps and beams) and uses (remnants of mortar, pre-frames, coatings) have left unaltered, exposed in all its rawness.” An option that explores the beauty of raw materials and accidents and is linked to raw aesthetics.
The traces of time have become a backdrop on which contemporary design is based and which provides the basis for each room. From bottom to top the access, kitchen and dining room follow one another; being; the bathroom, dressing room, and the bedroom, plus a warm wooden terrace on the roof. It is an ascending tour de force where each floor occupies about 20 m2. Except for the kitchen and bathroom furniture, which are fixed, the rest of the spaces and uses function as interchangeable pieces.
“Materially,” Sánchez points out, “a certain refinement has been pursued in the new elements, in opposition to the crude expressiveness of the existing walls, aware that the space houses a home.” The brass furniture is the most striking proposal. Although it has also been applied to black and brass details in the bathroom, cream lacquered wood paneling, white microcement headboards or oak floors.
The traditional hydraulic mosaic with geometric and floral motifs stands out. An express desire of the client, along with leaving the brick walls exposed. On each floor, the new floors do not reach the façade, and a sheet of safety glass completes the floor. A skylight provides natural light from above, which generates an attractive gradation of light to the ground floor. The glass strips on the floor also bounce light between the floors and allow the building to be viewed from the inside in all its height.
Although the main façade was rehabilitated according to strict criteria from the Heritage Department of Barcelona City Council, the architect had freedom of action on the entrance door. Raúl Sánchez designed a front that reproduces that three-dimensional optical play of the hydraulic pavement on the first floor, so loved by the owner. The modern gate has been composed with a layout of rhombuses and triangles finished with three types of aluminum, which abstracts the entrance. It reveals, however, that behind it is guarded a singular architectural proposal. The innovation in Raúl Sánchez's architectural proposals has earned him an award in the prestigious Dezeen Awards, Emerging Interior Designer of the Year 2022 category.
