Victor Gonzalez Marti for TC-Interiors, Barcelona
Type: Private Apartment renovation/ Interior Architecture,
Location: Gran Via with Rambla Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

‘Best Residences 2012’ Award, IIDA Global Excellence Awards, International Interior Design Association, Maison Objet, Paris

PROJECT SUMMARY:
The 2012 IIDA Award winning Communicating Vessels, is a 250 sq.m complete apartment renovation, located in the Modernist neighborhood of Barcelona, near the Gaudi’s and Puig i Cadafalch’s city monuments. Through a well-studied design and an accurate execution, the architect creates a meaningful open space built around the natural light. At the same time exposes and protects the historic structural fabric, furnishes the space with custom-made designs and introduces a system of energy efficient lighting, the Lighting Carpets, which indicate & illuminate the various uses of this home.

MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT
The design layout is a response to the client’s wish for a united, open
space that could benefit the natural light form early in the morning to
late afternoon. For this reason, all mid-walls were demolished and the
windows at the communal side façade, were enlarged. The only enclosed
department built from the scratch, is the Core, which includes
the guest room and the service areas, leaving the rest of the space diaphanous.
A row of uninterrupted uses, the ‘communicating vessels’, create an
open plan space, which runs undisturbed through the main sleeping
area, the dressing room, the washing area, the kitchen, the library and
living area. No door can be seen through this open space, apart from
a double one that indicates the threshold between the private and the
public, while helps the energy saving during the night.
Every use is ‘marked’ by a Lighting Carpet, a customized and highly
resolved lighting system. As the floor carpets do, the Lighting Carpets,
‘warm up’ a specific territory of this home while the same time,
indicate the use, by their distinct positioning and size. By inventing
and installing this custom made ceiling frames, the typical light mishmash
has being avoided and a better control of the quality & quantity
of light, has being achieved. Every frame incorporates 3 different illuminations;
the upper Led line underlining the vault ceiling fabric, the
lower LED line which spreads the light equally in the space and the
hanged adjustable LED spots, focusing on fragmented specific activities,
adaptable to the user’s needs, such as reading or drawing.
The different uses are also indicated by fix furniture pieces, mostly
custom made and the particular atmospheres achieved by different
materials and designs. The luminous ‘rotonda’ library is in a constant
dialogue with the next-door eclectic 1923 Coliseum theatre, whose
rounded reflections enter from the bow windows. The deepness & the
darkness are expressed in the case of the washroom, an atmospheric
warm cave. In the bedroom, the gallery & windows area have being
transformed into a green relaxation zone where an elevated deck incorporates
a Jacuzzi bath tab.
The building offers a rich historic background because it has being
reconstructed various times in the history after its partial collapse,
when bombarded during the Spanish civil war, in 1938. Looking to
reconstruct the history, the decision to remove all the overlaid plaster
layers from the walls and the ceilings was taken, in search for the original
beautiful brick walls. All electric installations have being placed in
front of the walls, leaving the original surfaces untouched.
The coolness and heating are achieved by the sectional air-conditioning
installations, for maximum comfort and energy saving. The custom
made lighting, offers a better control of the quality & quantity
of light, by using intergraded LED lines, which counts up to 85% of
energy saving. All wood is certified and the furniture and lighting are
made by the local Manolito & Manolita furniture brand.