Concealed behind a historic facade, this narrow residence by Barcelona architect Josep Ferrando is wedged between the celebration walls of a pair of homes in the Spanish city of Sant Cugat.
The 225-square-metre residence fills a gap measuring significantly less than 6 metres broad among two present buildings in Sant Cugat – a town north of Barcelona that is also property to a picturesque Medieval monastery, an architecture school and a chocolate factory.
The proximity to Barcelona and the surrounding Catalonian countryside can make Sant Cugat a popular spot, resulting in a dearth of land in the town centre.
This led Ferrando to squeeze the family property behind the facade of an previous row house, appropriate up against the walls of its two neighbours.
Entitled 176 Home E+M soon after the names of the clients, the residence sits opposite the town’s Medieval monastery. The historic facade of the unique residence was preserved, and the new concrete block was built behind.
“Found in the historical centre of Sant Cugat, a home amongst party walls is a task delicate to the inhabitant and the city,” explained Ferrando.
“[It is] a fragment that fits with the complex urban circumstances: the monastery, the cultural heritage of the street facade and the topography.”
An arched doorway in the previous facade leads in from the street to an entrance hall that hyperlinks with the family’s kitchen and dining spot, as properly as a narrow concrete staircase that descends to a basement living room.
Due to a drop in ground degree across the internet site, the residing room is sunk below ground at the front but sits slightly above a backyard at the back.
An atrium region with the residing space provides an extra supply of daylight for the kitchen and dining spot over.
3 house-shaped volumes manufactured from chipboard are suspended within the upper floors of the narrow developing.
These timber pods enclose a child’s bedroom, the family bathroom and a study that links with a roof terrace overlooking the garden. A pivoting flap opens or closes the child’s bedroom to the atrium, supplying views over the kitchen.
Ferrando took inspiration from the Modernist architect Adolf Loos and his raumplan concept for this staggered arrangement of volumes.
Loos used the phrase raumplan to outline his belief that the composition of rooms inside of a building should not be dictated by standard floor ranges, but instead set at a height that suits its use, creating buildings exactly where “storeys merge and spaces relate to every single other”.
“The horizontal slabs are adapted to the topography and the programme of the dwelling unit with a raumplan technique,” explained Ferrando.
“[It is] a distinctive building gesture to develop the complete home as if it had been a hollowed piece of wood, shaped via light, void and visuals to interior and exterior.”
A network of timber shelves spreads across one particular wall of the residence, providing storage area for every single of the levels and a visual website link in between the timber volumes.
The rise in land expenses and the growing density of cities has lead to a surge in construction of skinny homes like this one. Others have been constructed not too long ago in South Korea, Australia and the Uk.
“It is wonderful how crucial a single inch of room becomes when you are dealing with this kind of a confined width,” American architect Simon Storey advised Dezeen.
Photography is by Adrià Goula.
Venture credits:
Architecture: Josep Ferrando Bramona
Constructor: Josep Nel·lo
Amount surveyor: Toledo-Villarreal
Structures: Josep Nel·lo
Collaborators: Marta Arias, Carol Castilla, Jordi Pérez, Félix Platero, Goun Park, TaeGweon Kim, Adrià Orriols, Clara Vidal, Borja Rodríguez
Axonometric diagram 
Deconstructed axonometric diagram 
Ground floor plan 
Initial floor strategy 
Second floor plan 
Third floor plan 
Section Dezeen
