Social housing in Rec Comtal street
credits
Site: Rec Comtal 20, Barcelona.
Client: Direcció General de l’Habitatge
Year of project: 1982
Construction: 1985
Area: 4.800m2
Awards: First Construmat award (1984-1985)
Location
description
The house of the Rec Comtal also considers the issue of the street-corner and adaption to its setting. The plot bore an unusual characteristic: on the Atlas of Barcelona historical maps from the late 18th century onwards reflected this unique area as an invariable border of the next to the Porta Nova, the gateway to the north. This type of plot, a form of trapezoidal obtuse prow, gave rise to three façades was used wisely in order to align the smaller dwellings as requested by the Housing Department. This left a large courtyard in the inner area. As for the corner, the idea once again came up to transform it into the major volumetric pint in the project in order to forge a special kind of smaller dwelling with a triangular vantage point. These ideas, essentially intended to afford innovative typologies, also laid the seeds for the directions we wanted to go in with regard to morphology. It did not seem appropriate to follow the neoclassical patterns we were able to observe in the new houses of the neighbourhood of La Ribera. Likewise, our attention was struck by the major presence of the “gothic” spirit the old buildings in the area still portrayed.
