Intervening in one of the most emblematic buildings of modernism in Barcelona's Eixample, included in the Catalog of Architectural Heritage, could have been an unbeatable opportunity to face the process with particular attention to its pre-existence, its memory and the Client's demands. The building in question is Casa R. Sala, designed in 1906 by the architect Domènec Boada, commissioned by Francesc Cairó.
Unfortunately the situation we found ourselves was dramatic. The constructive and decorative elements that have magnified the architectural era of Modernism had completely disappeared due to a reform carried out at the beginning of the 1980s.
Of the hydraulic tile floors, the reed ceilings with moldings, the openings to the outside (including the gallery that leads to the inner patio), and finally also of the functional distribution there were no traces, even the proportions of the rooms. Windows had been modified to adapt to the previous reform, the only original elements that remain are the windows with colored glass that donate to the community interior patio where the stairs and the elevator are.
This scenario made us reflect on a paradigmatic change in the typical distributive typology of the Eixample houses, where the different drawings of the floor make up the distribution of the internal rooms.
Customers have been the first to accept the change with commendable predisposition, allowed us to take the new typological proposal to the extreme. This proposal contemplates the disappearance of the long and narrow distribution corridor (very typical in Eixample housing) transforming the plan into a continuous space in which all the public functions of the housing are included without renouncing the established functional program (two meeting rooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, study).
From the entrance door, there is direct access to this core, completely open to the spaces that surround it, without doors, a continuous public space, thus canceling out the lobby.
The walls disappear and are transformed into a series of cabinets and doors that lead to the rooms (1 suite room and 2 single rooms), the guest toilet and the technical room.
This completely open space communicates the house on the North-South axis and captures the maximum natural light that can be brought into the volume, since all the windows turn towards it.
The kitchen has been resolved in brushed stainless steel, using the reflections of this material to be able to mimic it and dematerialize its presence in the continuous space.
To balance the “cold” effect generated by steel, the presence of wood has been continuously worked on, both in the composition of the cabinets, as well as in the handles thereof, in the windows and in the furniture.
The structure of the slabs, made up of metal joists and filled with ceramic vaults between them, has only been able to be recovered in correspondence with the living room area.
The rest of the structure of the slabs has been lined with plasterboard, maximizing the internal height of the house (3.05m.). Some domes have been placed on the ceilings of the rooms with the aim of re-enriching the lost beauty of the missing reed ceilings with moldings.
For the floors, a continuous micro terrazzo floor has been combined for the public space and solid wood for the rooms. The sinks have been executed in micro mortar.
All the walls have been treated with a natural coating based on marble and lime (marmorino).
The facilities have been taken care of from the energy point of view by adopting an aerothermal heat pump, in order to produce heat (underfloor heating), cold (air ducts) and ACS.
The artificial lighting is controlled by a home automation system that automatically regulates the intensity and color of the light according to the hours of the day and the seasons of the year.
Noble materials have been used throughout the intervention, in order to once again dignify the home in a context as exclusive as that of Modernism.
