Sabadell Housing Renovation / Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos

Architects: Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos
Location: Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
Years: 2005-2007
Photographs: Courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos

Courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos

The intervention consists in the restoration of a small industrial building and the addition of a new floor to it in order to turn it into a residential building. The old Planell factory was built at the beginning of the twentieth century and is placed at the corner of Turull and Riego streets.

Courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos

We have tried to maintain and preserve the existing building while transferring its character to the new addition that completes it. In spite of the presumed duality (industrial building that has to be restored plus new residential building) we have opted for improving the whole by mixing the old and the new in a confident, intense way.

Courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos

Common access is carried out through a diaphanous covered space that is adjacent to the pre-existing industrial warehouse. Thus, an access patio is made up that organizes the common space in the proposal. Both the vertical and horizontal communications that result from its use are carried out in this space. A new, landscaped patio is proposed for neighbours’ use inside the block. This succession of spaces becomes the finding or surprise that the building has in store for the visitor.