Social Housing Barcelona, Navas de Tolosa - Nogué Onzain Lopez Arquitectes
Reportage about collective residential projects realised by the Patronat Municipal de l'Habitatge de Barcelona (PMHB) in the last years.
photo (Stefano Ferrando) and text (Francesco Cocco) from Social Housing Barcelona, ListLab, 2019
The Navas de Tolosa building is organized into two separated blocks which overlook a symbolic point of the district: a corner formed by two main roads. The typical Eixample block by Ildefons Cerdà, with the corner solution (chaflán), is dematerialized creating a viewing cone of the internal square surrounded by a building of six floors. The first housing block hosts 78 apartments for the younger generations and a preschool on the ground floor. The second block hosts 76 households for the elderly and a civic centre on the ground and the first floor. The choice to renounce the natural transversal ventilation of the households (through mechanical means) in order to have a good balance between the length of the façade (7m) and the depth of the household (6m) results in a good relationship with the outside. The elements of the household are designed to increase the perception of the space: the corridor transforms into a dressing room leading to the bathroom where there is a generous space for the washing machine. The small terrace includes a drying rack which becomes part of the formal aspect of the façade.
The huge sliding door linking the room and the hall allows for a higher dimensional perception.
Social activities for the elderly take place in the two communal halls on the ground floor, on the large terrace on the third floor and in the cosy urban garden in the loft.
