Midtown tourist apartment building

The plot is located on the corner of Casp and Bruc streets in the Eixample district of Barcelona. The pre-existing building was demolished, preserving the protected facade of the building while awaiting the construction of the new building.
The pre-existing building dates from the end of 1896 and was designed by J. Bernades.

The appearance of the building was a result of two different extension campaigns that involved the raising of three storeys above the original base.

The first lift was built in 1935, then in 1952 a new one-storey lift was built and in 1953 an additional pneumatic lift was added.
The building therefore consisted of a basement, ground floor, mezzanine, main floor, ground floor, first, second, third, fourth and fifth floors. It would thus correspond to a ground floor plus seven floors.

The building had party wall construction on Bruc street along the entire height and on Caspe street only on the ground floor and mezzanine, as there was an "androna" or courtyard of lights about 3 m wide above it that separated it from the party wall.
It is a five-storey tourist accommodation building, commercial premises on the ground floor and four floors of underground parking. The project maintains the current facade from 1896 as it is a facade protected by Heritage.

Given that the facade of the 1896 building corresponds to ground floor + 7 floors and the maximum permitted buildable area corresponds only to ground floor + 5, and in order not to leave the last two floors in the air, without a building behind them, it was proposed to demolish the two facade elevations, the one from 1935 and the one from 1952.

Although we should only demolish two storeys of the original façade, we proposed to demolish three, considering the fact that the cornice of the original building had a clear-cut line.

As both elevations corresponded to three storeys of the old facade, it was proposed to build a fifth storey slightly recessed from the original facade in order to respect the original elevation.

Taking advantage of the fact that the building was separated from its neighbour on Calle Caspe by an "androna" that interrupted the principal façade, the project proposed to build an element that would give continuity to the facade, creating a large entrance vestibule on the ground floor for new accommodation, and housing part of the programme on the upper floors.

On the other hand, the courtyard corresponding to the compulsory 12% was located inside the block, to guarantee perfect lighting and ventilation of the accommodation that is oriented there, also fulfilling the basic health standard of the technical code for openings and air vents.

In order to maintain the use of the current main entrance, in the middle of the chamfer, it was proposed to create a double-height entrance from which the ground floor premises could be accessed, as it was essential for the heritage authorities to maintain the openings on the ground floor. The project located the accommodation on the ground floor, leaving the ground floor for the commercial premises, the main entrance hall and access to the car park.

On the ground floor, therefore, three entrances were generated: access to the accommodation via Caspe Street, through a hall that connects at the back with the communications core to access the different floors of the building, a second entrance through the building's original portal in the centre of the chamfer that gives access to the commercial premises with mezzanine and, through Bruc Street, the vehicle access to the car park and the emergency exit from the car park and the accommodation.

The mezzanine (1st floor), main (2nd floor), third and fourth floors house 6 tourist flats with a double bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and common living-dining area and 4 studios with bathroom and common living-dining-kitchen-bedroom area.

The lodge (5th floor) is slightly recessed from the original facade and forms a small eave that gives continuity with the facades of the neighbouring buildings. On this floor we find: 2 tourist flats with a double bedroom, a single bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and common living-dining room area, 2 tourist flats with a double bedroom, study area, bathroom, kitchen and common living-dining room area, 1 tourist flat with a double bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and common living-dining room area and 4 studios with bathroom and common living-dining room-kitchen-bedroom area.

On the fifth floor, using the same staircase, there is access to a public terrace with swimming pool and solarium and a technical installations room.

The basement floors have parking spaces. The first basement floor consists of 12 parking spaces, changing rooms, storage rooms and a transformer station. The other basement floors have 17 parking spaces each. Two staircases connect the basement floors with the ground floor, with an exit through the lobby on Caspe street and an emergency exit on Bruc street.