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BALIUS POP-UP STORE. EPHEMERAL INTERVENTION
BARCELONA, SPAIN. 2015

[AUTHORS: MARTÍ ANSON FRADERA + JOSEP MUÑOZ I PÉREZ + ASUN LÓPEZ COLOM]

La botiga de l’Anson is one of the ‘Species of Spaces’ exhibition platforms presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona. Emerging from within the old Balius Poblenou hardware store, a wooden lath and OSB panel structure shapes a ‘pop-up’ store and an exhibition space that contains furniture elaborated by Martí Anson. Since the old Balius hardware store closed in 2012, its state has remained untouched and exposed to the passage of time, accumulating dust on rotten shelves and growing damp on the walls. The temporary intervention preserves this appearance intact, fleeing from a renovation based on cladding and clashing materials. The hardware store transpires through the diaphragmatic structure and is displayed without complexes. The intervention involves mixing realities, instead of eliminating one in favour of the other. The furniture is an inseparable part of the wooden structure that creates tension, turns and distortions of scale.

ENTRANCE UAB. PUBLIC SPACE DRAFT PROJECT
BELLATERRA, SPAIN. 2015

[AUTHORS: JOSEP MUÑOZ I PÉREZ + ASUN LÓPEZ COLOM]

The UAB campus is immersed in lush and verdant landscape. Its buildings are hidden among pine and oak trees. Currently, the UAB entrance from the railway station is purely a functional response to the need of linking the station with the campus. Its harsh appearance clashes with the natural surroundings and sends off a poor image of the campus installations. This route is reduced to a concrete path that transitions into a bridge and spans across a topographical void, connecting the station with the campus. When rethinking this entrance, our main concern was how the image of the entrance was not representative of the university and, consequently, its study programs. The proposal for gaining a more coherent first impression of the campus is an extension of the qualities of the surroundings across the concrete path. That is, trees dot the walkway, turning it into a large outdoor shaded hall. They are, together with steel railings, strategically located to conduct users and create small outdoor living spaces.

EUROPAN XIII. IDEAS COMPETITION. RUNNER-UP
ZAGREB, CROATIA. 2015

[AUTHORS: JOSEP MUÑOZ I PÉREZ + ASUN LÓPEZ COLOM]

SHORT-LISTED PROJECT. EUROPAN XIII 2015. ZAGREB

Zagreb is a fast-becoming reference of vitality in all its imaginable expressions. One can run, cycle or canoe through it; numerous contemporary cultural centres dot the city (Mocvara, Attack,…); music and film festivals take place all year round (Animafest, ZagrebDox, Contemporary Dance week,…). Zagreb is, with no doubt, intense and seeks spaces for interaction. However, it’s in need of alternative platforms for self-expression and interaction – these appear in the four pre-established sites as scaffold structures, which are, simply, grid lines, a background or a base upon which Zagreb’s people’s creativity can materialise. They silently trace, underline and frame the particularities of the river landscape.

CABSA GASTRONOMIC VENUE. REFURBISHMENT
MATARÓ, SPAIN. 2016

[AUTHORS: JOSEP MUÑOZ I PÉREZ + ASUN LÓPEZ COLOM]

AWARDED PROJECT. PUIG I CADAFALCH AWARDS 15TH EDITION 2020. INTERIOR DESIGN CATEGORY
AWARDED PROJECT. MOSTRA D’ARQUITECTURA DEL MARESME 6th EDITION 2019. INTERIOR DESIGN CATEGORY
FINALIST. XVI CERAMIC AWARDS ASCER 2017. INTERIOR DESIGN CATEGORY

A slat texture envelops the CABSA gastronomic venue in a similar way as a porch does, hiding the standard windows of the office building that houses the space. A filtered light enters through the sliding shutter blinds as though in a beach house. Not only does the light and gastronomic experience transport one to a place of the Mediterranean, but the materials used in the refurbishment do as well. Ceramic, cane, plant fabrics, wood and lime-cement mortars are all materials that remind us of vernacular Mediterranean architecture and endow the space with abstraction, warmth and human scale. Similarly to the articulating chimney of the Sert House in Cambridge, the CABSA central brick piece of furniture makes the division of the space possible. The coexistence of disparate times is found in this space: sophisticated technology and mechanisms of simple lines set in an environment rich in regional materials that remind us of a bygone era. The plastering with a coarse sand base or the hand painted solid bricks contrast with the rationalistic details, such as, the door handles or the pivots integrated in the very thickness of the kitchen furniture doors.

CONFERENCE HALL OF THE FACULTY OF ECONOMICS. REFURBISHMENT
UAB UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, SPAIN. 2017

[AUTHORS: JOSEP MUÑOZ I PÉREZ + ASUN LÓPEZ COLOM]

The interior fittings of the faculty respond to different eras, stylistic tendencies and architect stamps, consequently, resulting in a lack of unity of the interventions carried out. In the past, the design philosophy involved concealing the rationalist structure and the base material of the building. The renovation proposal for the Conference Hall chooses to display the original brutalist concrete construction, showing it without complexes as it is the only thing that will be able to give unity to the different future interventions of the faculty. In essence, it is about returning to the origins, showing the concrete that had remained hidden. To do this, we show the totality of the roof, that is, the concrete beams, gaining in height and, in turn, in an improvement of spatial proportions. For the rest of the walls, the greyness and texture of the concrete is extended to gain neutrality and harmony in a space of very intense and changing activity.

CAL PIULA HOUSE. REFURBISHMENT
LAVERN, SUBIRATS, SPAIN. 2018

[AUTHORS: JOSEP MUÑOZ I PÉREZ + ASUN LÓPEZ COLOM]

Cal Piula reflects the typical architecture of a detached single-family rural house of the Alt Penedès plain. Devoid of any special construction elements, it is integrated in a set of houses that conform a small rural centre, known as Carrer del Rocs, which is surrounded by forest and vineyards. In this sense, its preservation and recovery favours the maintenance of the environmental conditions of the surroundings as well as makes possible the maintenance of the rural population and the activities directly and indirectly related to the territory. Before the intervention, three floors made up the house. The top floors and roof rested on a structural wall that coincided in position with the ridge of the roof. In order to gain height and light, the intervention involved eliminating the intermediate floor, the height of which was insufficient according to habitability regulations. It also involved lifting the ground floor level to allow continuity with the courtyard. In the ground floor, the load-bearing wall was demolished in the extremes to allow freer movement. This redistributed floor houses the kitchen, the living room and the new staircase. The staircase is the binding element of the house. Inspired by Coderch’s architecture, it was conceived as a sculptural piece that brings warmth, texture and spatial particularities to the uniform space. The staircase integrates storage areas in both levels of the staircase. Elevated wardrobes compress the entrance and the circulation area that leads to the courtyard. The separation between the stairs and the rest of the space is a wooden strip filter that allows air and light to pass through. A functional demand can become a spatial virtue.

STUDY ABROAD OFFICES. REFURBISHMENT
CASA CONVALESCÈNCIA BUILDING, SANT PAU HOSPITAL, SPAIN. 2019

[AUTHORS: JOSEP MUÑOZ I PÉREZ + ASUN LÓPEZ COLOM]

The first time we entered the space where the new Study Abroad offices were to be located, we found a low ceiling corridor that lacked natural light and led to diverse work spaces in terms of size, proportions and materials. There was no sense of order nor harmony. Neither was there any relation to the container: Casa Convalescència, one of the buildings belonging to the Sant Pau Hospital, declared a Historical Artistic Monument in 1978 and World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. The pre-existing intervention was based on false ceilings and opaque partitions, distorting the architectural and historical values of the heritage building as well as generating insufficient lighting conditions for the workers. The unalterable façade openings of this space are particularly low and little light enters the interior. This determining aspect along with the relation between the new offices and the particularities of Casa Convalescència have marked the guidelines of the new intervention. The false ceilings were extracted and the opaque walls as well. The new spatial subdivision was carried out placing four fixed furniture pieces under each pointed arch. Underlining the arches emphasised the presence of the original structure and recovered the original visual rhythm of the space. Every arch is exposed to every office, meeting room and open work space. These four pieces occupy the central part of the arches, allowing circulation in the extremes. This decision has displayed the whole set of the windows and the relation that exists between them. Not only this, but the exterior light and a sense of spaciousness has been maximised thanks to the elimination of visual interruptions. We opted for transparent partitions (including at the level of the arches) and sliding doors.

EL PUNTET. REFURBISHMENT IN PROCESS
MALMERCAT, CATALAN PYRENEES. 2021

El Puntet is the ground floor of an old barn found in the Catalan Pyrenees. Several years ago, the barn’s roof and floors were renovated and a concrete pillar was incorporated in the centre of the three floors that make it up. Despite the structural reinforcement, the building continues unoccupied, however, now the owners want to convert the ground floor, which has an independent access thanks to the topographical divide, into a tourist apartment. The proposal for this 50m2 apartment enhances the entry of natural light by elongating the existing wall openings and converting them in light funnels. Furthermore, the practical absence of compartmentalisation contributes to the attainment of a brighter interior along with lending this small space a sense of spaciousness. All the interior finishes are natural materials you can find in the Pyrenean region: stone, wood and limestone.

VILLAGES OF OUR MOUNTAINS. A CONSTRUCTION OF THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE SIARB VALLEY (LLEIDA PYRENEES, SPAIN).
ACADEMIC PAPER PUBLISHED IN AGER: JOURNAL OF DEPOPULATION AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
DOI: 10.4422/ager.2022.07