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Movable metal shutters reveal bright red balconies at this social housing complex in Barcelona, designed by local architecture studio MIAS and Coll-Leclerc Architects.
Located on a triangular plot in the south of the city, the building offers 72 apartments over seven levels and is clad in vertical panels of terracotta-coloured glass-reinforced concrete.
MIAS and Coll-Leclerc Architects’ unique use of color in the development references the area’s history of textile manufacturing, where fabrics used to be dyed red and dried in the sun, hence the neighborhood’s name Marina del Prat Vermell or Red Meadow Marina.
To maximize the number of units that could be accommodated on the site, MIAS filled in its retained contours and bow edges. Two large incisions divide the house into three smaller “porous” blocks, between which pathways are planted.
“Porosity refers to a building’s permeability, allowing air to flow through the building and the streets that intersect the main mass,” MIAS architect Daniela Salaris told Dezeen.
“I am particularly interested in architecture without limits, which does not precisely define its physical limits but creates spaces for sight beyond the confines of the container,” she added.
Dividing the project into smaller blocks avoids the creation of large corridors and instead creates corner apartments with equal light, air and views.
While the layout of the central apartment remains consistent, the two prow-like corners on the east and west sides of the site contain unique spaces tailored to its more angular and narrow floor plan.
“I think the main accomplishment is that when you’re in a multifamily building, you have the feeling of being in a single-family home, as if you’re not part of a seven-story residential building,” Salaris explained.
“The interior spaces flow, communicating easily with each other and with the exterior, enjoying distant views, allowing the interior spaces to expand to the outside through terraces,” she added.
Each apartment opens out to its own covered terrace with views of the city and sea, shaded from the sun by folding metal louvres that enliven the facades and interiors lined with bright red finishes.
Inside, this red color extends to the doors, window frames and furniture, contrasting with the otherwise minimal white walls and exposed concrete ceiling.
According to MIAS, the blocks’ roofs feature a combination of plantings and photovoltaic panels that cover about half of the building’s energy consumption.
Dezeen’s Social Housing Regeneration series recently highlighted the rapid increase in social housing supply in Barcelona, which is part of a series of measures in the city to tackle housing affordability.
Other recent social housing projects on Dezeen include a Parisian manor house with arched windows and pitched roofs by SOA Architectes, and La Brea affordable housing in West Hollywood, designed in a modern Art Deco style by Patrick Tighe and John Mutlow.
Photography is by Adrià Goula.
Project credits:
architect: MIAS Architects, Coll-Leclerc
client: IMHAB Barcelona Institute of Housing and Renovation
Collaborators: Carla Blanche, Marc Subirana, Mal Genovese, Manuel Giraud, Mauro Soro, Maria Chiara Ziliani, Marta Ca Sass, Anna Massana
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