Por: Raquel Arias
(To read English version go at the bottom of the article)
Hoy quiero presentaros un proyecto muy personal :
la reforma de una vivienda en el centro en el barrio gótico de Barcelona realizada por
los arquitectos Crusch Alba y Gus Wüsteman.
La vivienda original tenía el habitual problema
típico de estas viviendas antiguas: la
escasa iluminación de las zonas alejadas de la fachada principal. Este
problema generó este
ingenioso proyecto que inserta patios, y concibe la vivienda con un programa libre.
En general
las paredes y los techos se han
dejado en su estado original : muros de
piedra vista, pinturas murales y
acabados de yeso originales.
Al
introducir los cuatro patios en el corazón de la vivienda, se crea un cruz
blanca en sus intersecciones y aparece un nuevo volumen que rompe el espacio existente ; Esta frontera entre lo antiguo y lo nuevo se remarca usando la LUZ .
El apartamento puede ser utilizado de
múltiples formas y usos: Las
habitaciones pueden ser subdivididas por unas enormes puertas correderas, transformando su uso y su significado: no hay programa
fijo, el programa es libre y variable .
Si la
cocina se tapa , desaparece..... es
libre y pertenecer a distintos ambientes según el momento.
Los
niños duermen en colchones
plegables y pueden elegir dónde quieren dormir: están 'acampando' en el apartamento, sin
habitación fija...
...en el dormitorio hay una zona que puede ser cama o
un baño si le quitas la parte superior. La bañera principal está oculta por una mampara que gira y sólo aparece cuando ésta se necesita.
...de este modo, si un espacio no se utiliza para un programa
específico, siempre está disponible como espacio habitable para lo que sea......
English version
Today I want to show you a very personal project; It´s the renovation of an old building in Barcelona's
Gothic Quarter projected by the architects Gus Wüsteman and CruschAlba.
The original house had the usual problem in old buildings:
the poor lighting. They have inserted light wells, and have conceived the project with a free program.
Walls and
ceilings have been left in its original state: stone walls, murals and original plaster
finishes. They have introduced four courtyards creating a white cross at their intersections, creating
a new volume that breaks the old space; This border between old and new
is highlighted using LIGHT.
The apartment can be used in multiple ways : rooms can be subdivided by huge sliding doors, transforming
its use and its meaning: there´s no a fixed program,
program is free and variable...... space is free and belongs to different environments
at different times.
Children sleep on mattresses foldable and can choose
where they want to sleep: they are
'camping' in the apartment. The bath is hidden
by a screen that rotates and appears only when it´s needed…
The project
is our flat in Barcelona in the Gotico area, in the center of the historic part
of Barcelona. A challenge was the very heterogenic floor plan, which was
interrupted by various light patios. The other issue is little daylight in the
old town of Barcelona, as the sun and the heat were considered rather a burden
in the old times.
There is one major façade facing the street Banys Nous, with
big windows and balconies. It was clear that we would have a big living space
in this area. For the connection, organization (circulation) and lighting up
the back part of the apartment we had to come up with an invention.
The
invention was to cross two programs: the kitchen and the bathroom, two brightly
light up white spaces, forming a white cross. The white cross we put between
those medieval walls and created a bright center in the middle of these
fragment spaces and light patios. The crusch alba (white cross) is a crossing
of two programs, there is no circulation, no matter where, you are either in
the kitchen or in the bathroom.
The rest of the space, the walls and ceilings
are left in its original state: raw stone walls, wall paintings and raw plaster
finishes. We implemented the white cross as a new volume in the existing space
and created openings into this white space. We light up the periphery: the
border between old an new. In that respect, the layer outside of the white
cross becomes the outer space, generating pictures of ‘the old times’ like
looking outside a window into another landscape.
By coincidence, real windows
appear in these openings. We left all the old surfaces in the original state,
just varnished them: painted ceilings, painted wallpapers, raw old stone walls
of the Gotico and even raw plaster of the new building interventions. The
overlay of layers of old and new with light in between emphasizes the lack of
hierarchy of old and new. It’s the feeling of not finishing; keeping it urban
and letting the process and time be visible that gives a feeling of freedom.
The apartment can be used as loft or as a three bedroom apartment. The white
cross is physically and visually the center core of the back part of the
apartment. The actual bedrooms and the bathroom can be divided by big sliding
doors and are not defined by the cross itself. So the master bedroom space is
part of in the white cross and part of the remaining old space (old layers). So
the actual rooms are urban spaces, as they are part of various elements. There
is a major structural wall separating the living area from the white cross and
the private areas of the apartment.
Two door size openings and a window to a
light patio are the only connection to the living area, dividing the flat in
two parts. We dissolved the original wall into a sequence of elements, so that
the openings become in between spaces of things touching, rather than holes in
wall. So the separating element becomes the connecting element, an attractor
brought to life by light. There are numerous options of how many bedrooms and
niches we can create as bedrooms. The kids have foldable mattresses, so they
can choose where they want to sleep. The kids are ‘camping’ in the apartment,
with no fixed bedroom.
The wooden volume we implemented on top of the old
structure, the historical stone structure of the Gotico. Between the old layer
and the new implementation there is always a horizon of light, expanding the
space where normally it is the end of a room (periphery, where walls and floor
meet). By creating the wooden objects we have no ‘floor surface’ but are
walking on a wooden volume. There are no defined surfaces like walls and
floors, but urban elements and volumes that we can use freely. As usual we
implemented our tool of ‘program free architecture’, so the kitchen is not
visible, but is part of the white cross. The children’s lounge in the bedroom
is actually a bath, if you take off the top. The main bathroom is hidden by a
huge sliding wall and only appears when you need it. The shower is in a corner
of the white cross. If a space is not used for a specific program, it is always
available as living space or for whatever. The flat is like a continuation of
the urban space of the Gotico of Barcelona, with a space machine, the white
cross, added on.
