Ca na Laia i en Biel

The intervention consists of the interior refurbishment of an old flat located in the Gracia district of Barcelona, conducted by Mallorca-based office Ted’A.

The project concentrates its efforts on a single strategy, consisting of opening the flat longitudinally.

The architects originally found a ‘passing’ apartment, with one façade on the street and the other on the inside of the block.

The whole project is condensed into a single gesture that manages to organise the space while visually connecting the street and the interior courtyard: a new wardrobe crosses the entire house from one end to the other.

As a new and autonomous element, it is introduced into the house of Laia and Biel almost as a sculpture, independent and exempt from the perimeter that contains it.

It is executed with a noble and warm material, that is voluntarily different from the white that characterises the space that contains it.

The new pavement is organised as a carpet to support this new wardrobe. Ted’A opted to replace it with a hydraulic pavement manufactured by Huguet.

For the architects, the history of the new pavement could be understood as a palimpsest. There was, in a previous state, a pavement of 13x13cm clay tiles placed diagonally. For them, its condition was not very good, it was partially modified, there were many patches and different types of tiles, the result of overlapping alterations and modifications.

This pavement has the same size, 13x13cm, as the existing one. Special edge pieces provide a good finish to the perimeter of the flooring. Special pieces are also made to obtain a longitudinal carpet to support the new wardrobe.

But, for Ted’A, a tile floor is not just a tile floor, it's a tile floor and the joint between them. The existing tiles were cleaned and crushed to obtain an aggregate of about 5-8mm, used to make the joint between the new tiles.

The joint is quite wide, 1cm thick, and is made with white mortar grout and reddish aggregate obtained from the clay tiles. The size of the crushed aggregate is suitable for the size of the joint. Afterwards everything is polished, tiled and joined.

Thus, for the authors, the intervention, from its most general lines to the most concrete details, is able to read and understand the place where it takes place, it is able to transform and manipulate it, in order to improve it and bring it further.

This publication is part of an ongoing collaboration between New Generations and Huguet
for the upcoming New Generations Festival, that will take place in Rome in September 2022.


Author
Ted’A
Location Barcelona, Spain
Year 2018
Tiles manufacturer Huguet
Photography José Hevia

a project powered by Itinerant Office

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