LABLANCA, Симоне Марколин · Ллерона

Llerona transforms a garage into a guest apartment attached to the main house. The project is located in Torre Baró, Barcelona, in an area with a tradition of self-built housing, where the topography and geology of Collserola are key considerations from the outset. Its use as temporary accommodation allows for experimentation with the dimensions and everyday objects of domestic life, as well as their material expression. The garage has an irregular layout, with a main trapezoidal volume and a second, elongated double-height volume. From the beginning, the geometry of both volumes is seen as a design tool. Two elements in the main volume have a particular influence on the layout: a recess in the rear wall, excavated into the hillside, which creates an irregular interior perimeter, and a raised foundation block that projects above floor level. The limited floor area makes it essential to make the most of these elements. A lightweight kitchen unit is placed on top of the foundation block. The bathroom is located within the recess, in the area most affected by moisture due to its contact with the ground. The position of the wet areas plays a key role in organising the rest of the space. The bathroom narrows the circulation space and acts as a threshold between the more social and representative area of the apartment, within the main volume, and the more private area in the secondary volume. The secondary volume is a double-height space lit from above, reserved for sleeping. The construction constraints call for materials that are breathable and resistant to moisture. Concrete blocks are used to build the new elements: the bathroom volume, the storage units and the bed. The blocks are left exposed, without any additional finish, to allow the material to breathe. Red, small-format porcelain stoneware tiles are used on the raised foundation block that accommodates the kitchen and within the recess in the rear wall, two elements that shape the organisation of the space. Their small format adapts to the irregular geometries of the existing structure, while the choice of red echoes elements in the main house, creating material continuity between the two spaces.