Sustainable lofts for young people in Marina street
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The complex for young people was part of an overall operation to extend such models throughout Barcelona. The initial problem was to determine the urban development of the complex and ensure it was a success, replacing the old military facility that occupied the plot. The day on which, following a not too excessive or tiresome process, we determined the floor plan for the Marina complex, I believe marked the road towards the maturity of our method of planning. As shown on this floor plan, it is the loose result of fusing the basic life cell of a single dwelling with flexible use, a clear structure and monitored facilities, with the world, in a different scale, of bringing together those cell-type dwellings and common facilities, volumes with differing heights, block walls, ideas for the inner courtyards and the setting up of communal services. In the one single concept-based sketch can contain so much superimposed information thanks to a repeated process of perfection and adjustment. Marina illustrated this to some degree. It is a project we were happy to complete and, moreover, we were pleased by how users have intervened with the apartments and how communal services have been organised. It set a high standard in striking a balance between the architectural outcome and the satisfaction of those who live there.
