The blocks for the top floor, bearing less load, are made of 100% lime concrete, while the rest of the floors combine lime with cement. These blocks, approximately 135 cm long, 42 cm high, and with variable widths for each floor (64, 54, 44, and 34 cm), were prefabricated once the demolition was completed, before commencing the construction of the new building. This approach significantly reduced the construction duration. The blocks were stacked to build load-bearing walls perpendicular to the street, supporting cross-laminated timber ceilings. On each floor, the walls reduce in thickness by 10 cm, allowing direct support of the timber panels, facilitating the speed of execution of the entire structure.

Perpendicular to the main walls, 13 cm thick partition walls, constructed with the same cyclopean concrete and resulting from cutting a 60 cm wide block into four 13 cm sections, tie the structure of the entire building, together with the stair and elevator core.

The entire spatial and programmatic organization of the building responds to the described structural system; the floor plan is organized with a stair core in the corner, providing access to a walkway in the interior garden, from where each apartment is accessed—all are through apartments except those on the semi-basement floor, which, like those on the attic floor, have half the depth of the typical floors and utilize two structural spans for each apartment. The top-floor apartments have large terraces. Each floor also has a communal area (laundry room, lounges, etc.). The façade starkly displays the structural system: the end walls (vertical) of the prefabricated block walls, which decrease in height on each floor and support the timber (horizontal) ceilings, and, as the façade of each apartment, floor-to-ceiling wooden balconies with a lateral opaque strip and Venetian blinds to protect from the eastern and western sun.

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The project attempts to gather these concerns and give them shape in the organization of the spaces and in the relationship with the city.

The first strategy is the recovery of the central street between the two naves. We propose a kind of passage that during the building’s operating hours will become like another street in the city from where all the circulations and activities of the centre are organized. The public condition of this passage reinforces the idea of opening the centre to the city and allows citizens to use the same spaces and interact with users. Instead of a closed and separate building, this interior pedestrian street will allow a much more porous relationship between the entity and the city. A much more direct and open relationship between users and citizens.

It is proposed to empty the floors and roof of the central body while maintaining the facades that give it its industrial character and the beams that stabilize them. Like a vestige completely emptied from the inside, where it rains and the air flows like any street but at the same time preserving all its history still present in its walls and transverse beams. A street that emerges from the selective demolition of the roofs but that continues to evoke what its recent history had been.

In order to connect the two ends of the passage and solve the difference in elevation between the two parts of the city, a staircase-staircase appears in the final section that solves the unevenness and allows access to the complementary programs on the lower level. This staircase ends up giving an urban and cultural dimension to the passage and invites it to be not only a space for passage but also a place to stay.

Along the two main (and original) naves, the different spaces of the centre are organized, accessed directly from the interior street but at the same time interconnected internally. These are activities that combine main uses such as; workshops, training classrooms, kitchen or dining rooms with more complementary spaces such as; bathrooms, meeting rooms or warehouses and that at the same time respond to different types of users according to the level of their disabilities.

The need to subdivide spaces within an enormous space and at the same time the need to reinforce the existing trusses allows an organization of the spaces and their hierarchies based on these structural reinforcements.

New beams perpendicular to the existing trusses convert the original unidirectional system into a bidirectional structure where the new beams reduce the light of the existing ones and allow them to be preserved. These intersections between new and old structures create very subtle spatial patterns that follow the sameconstructive and material logic as the original and that allow the space to be hierarchized without losing or going against its original nature. These new structural orders superimposed on the existing ones also help us to place the most closed programs -which will become great pillars- and at the same time central skylights in each main space that qualify and characterize them. The opaque boxes house the closed programs while also taking on the weight of the new beams that in turn take on the weight of the original trusses. At the intersection between the existing trusses and the new beams, the light boxes appear, skylights that illuminate the centre of the main spaces.

The project attempts to extend the wood-wood work that currently characterizes the original construction where the overlap between systems (tread-strap-sheet metal) creates a characteristic intricate texture of wooden slats of different dimensions. The new beams, the new closed boxes and the new skylights will follow the same nature of wood-wood overlap as if the same constructive system that configured the roof were extended to also solve the new needs of the building.

The new roof continues to have an exterior finish of Arabic tiles and retains the original straps and battens but replaces the tiles with a lighter solution that allows for thermal insulation solutions according to current energy requirements while allowing the lower layer of the roof to function as an acoustic absorber finished with a porous veil held between the wooden battens.

The different layers of the new roof also configure the skylights, making the roof solution unfold and the battens and finishes -placed vertically- help us configure the type of light and the presence of the skylight.

The different dimensions of the spaces and the different relationships between main and secondary spaces create a sequence of linked spaces that allow us to understand the large size of the buildings but at the same time manage to create more domestic corners and spaces within a whole. The skylights help to focus attention on the main spaces and in particular to focus on use and people. The central and zenithal natural light emphasizes what is happening and the architecture takes on a more discreet role. Light and structure establish an intense bond with the environment and somehow help us feel part of the world. Feeling the force of gravity or the changes in the quality of natural light transport us to a more emotional situation. We are convinced that this is an institution that needs to rediscover this existential dimension.

Beyond the new structural interventions with wood, the rest of the interventions try to be very discreet in order to preserve the original essence of the building and all its marks and transformations. To isolate the facades, an interior transposal has been chosen, finished with exposed ceramic wall panels that follow the rhythm of the facade.

On the outside, the original holes that had been disfigured are recovered, recovering the full-empty relationship but at the same time trying to preserve the character of the micro transformations that the building has undergone. Preserving its wounds and wrinkles that tell us about the passage of time. We believe that this sum of additions, subtractions, openings or subsequent walling-up define part of its soul and we think that it is very important to show them so as not to lose this accumulated time that makes historic buildings so convincing. In this sense, we propose to remove all the coverings to rediscover the structural transformations that explain the changes and stages of the building. It is in the structure where we find its genetics and its transhistorical condition.

The openings are preserved or recovered in their format and in cases where we have technical or service spaces attached to the facade that do not need a window, we convert those openings into trombe walls (and dynamic walls) to help air-condition the interior spaces and at the same time they serve as an inlet for pre-treated renewal air.

The good level of thermal insulation, natural ventilation, trombe walls and solar protections guarantee us a very good passive operation. A building that will live half inside and half in the passage where the natural condition of the climate will also be part of this new opening of the institution towards the exterior.

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Converting the centre into a space much more connected with the outside, full of light and with the possibility of opening up and ventilating the whole house. A space in between that – although programmed and deeply architectural – lets in the natural intensity of the climate from the roof and divides the house in half, emptying it, making it more spacious and letting it breathe. A space that, due to its less domestic conditions of height, light and ventilation, manages to convey a feeling of being outside. The verticality of the central space and the zenith opening organize air and light. They make the invisible visible by sliding natural light to the bottom of the atrium while stimulating the speed of ventilation and the exit of hot air upwards to the exterior.

The program that is organized around the central space is extensive and quite fragmented. We propose a second categorization of the program that hierarchizes it so that each floor has four important spaces that are larger and higher, and these are complemented by secondary spaces that are smaller and clearly of less height.

The hierarchy between rooms is used to absorb the strong irregularity of the plot and solve all the spaces in a regular and orthogonal way in the main pieces. As in an excavated architecture, the different directionality of the spaces is absorbed by the thickness of the walls.

The main pieces always maintain the same position and dimension on all floors, while the complementary pieces vary, adapting and occupying the interstitial and irregular space left between the main pieces. Large structural walls, very thick and heavy, give the house a lot of thermal stability, but at the same time are selectively hollowed out to accommodate the smallest – and often the most sensitive – programs inside.

The great walls have been built with “poor” cast-in-place concrete. A mixture with very little cement and a selection of sands and gravels which, applied with a compaction technique similar to that of rammed earth, is a very robust and monolithic solution with a lot of thermal inertia but at the same time porous enough to help regulate and stabilize the temperature, humidity and the acoustics of the spaces.

The ceilings of the main spaces are always as high as possible and made of wood in order to differentiate them as much as possible from the complementary spaces, which are entirely mineral spaces excavated within the walls.

The central space is the most collective, the most primordial and special in the house. It is an atrium on the ground floor and first floor combined with a cloister superimposed on the second floor. Two archetypes with a very forceful geometry and dimensions that fit one on top of the other and from where the distributions are organized.

The atrium is the highest space in the house with four central pillars that free the hole in the central courtyard and that border and frame a virtual space in the middle of the house where the living room will be located.

The upper cloister is a space with similar characteristics, with lots of height and natural light, but without the centrality of the atrium. In the cloister the use, instead of occupying the centre, surrounds the courtyard. It cedes importance to light and ventilation and is located on the perimeter, expanding circulation spaces and sharing with the surrounding rooms. It is an extension of the rooms, the collective space of the rooms.

A house within the city, which due to its typological and constructive characteristics reconnects with traditional Mediterranean characteristic models of the city of Barcelona such as the Gothic courtyards and its bioclimatic and well-being values. Spaces designed to incorporate and exalt natural light, air stratification or the force of gravity. A house that tries to recover relationships with what surrounds us; an urban house.

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All homes (six with two bedrooms and three with one bedroom) have dual exposures, facing the street and the interior landscaped courtyard, to facilitate cross-ventilation and maximize the site’s climatic conditions (sunlight, prevailing winds, etc.). This aims to minimize energy expenditure during the building’s use phase and maximize bioclimatic comfort.

During the design phase, environmental studies were conducted to corroborate the bioclimatic strategies implemented and quantify them in terms of reducing the building’s energy demand.

As a result, solutions such as reinforced thermal insulation, practicable south- and west-facing sunshades, and optimal cross-ventilation were incorporated in all homes to reduce the building’s energy demand through passive measures. The interior courtyard will play an important role in this regard, as it will house two trees and plants to improve air quality and protect the interior façade from the sun in summer. This passive demand reduction is complemented by the installation of photovoltaic solar panels, which in turn create a ventilated shade structure and protect the building’s roof from the sun’s rays in summer.

Structurally, the building is made up of 19cm-thick marés stone walls arranged parallel to Avenida Binicudrell and prefabricated floors made of laminated wood joists and micro-laminated plywood.

The enclosure system consists of two layers of marés stone (19cm thick on the inside and 9cm thick on the outside) with an air chamber and thermal insulation between them. The stone masonry is being laid using the traditional Menorcan method: laid out on wooden wedges, it is first grouted on the outside with lime mortar, and then a very liquid grout, also made of lime mortar, is poured through the vertical and horizontal channels machined into the interior faces of the stone until the entire cavity is filled.

The roof, meanwhile, will be flat and inverted, with 20cm of recycled cotton-based insulation. On this roof, an extensive installation of photovoltaic panels placed on two slopes with an east-west orientation also acts as ventilated sun protection.

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The project on the new accesses to the building proposes a set of volumes which include both the new spaces destined to the hall and the main new accesses to the exhibition floors of the museum. The new volumes, placed in front of the old partitioning wall of the church, are arranged in a way that allows the conformation of the new façade of the building but at the same time grant the sights to the most important footprints of the old church that remains on the partitioning wall.

The intervention in the new accesses of the building pretends to be more than just a solution for the west façade of the old Jesuit college: the intervention proposes a new way of grasping both the building and its urban surroundings. The new accesses of the museum create a pathway which allows to admire the sights to the key elements of the old college (the cloister, the barrel vaults or the footprints onto the partitioning wall), sights over the adjacent urban spaces (Sant Ignasi’s Square and the urban orography of an old creek) and, finally, sights to the significant elements of the urban and landscape heritage of the city (the gothic basilica of La Seu, the defense tower of Santa Caterina or the mountain of Montserrat). The path created by the new accesses culminates, at its highest point, in a bleacher that overlooks the urban landscape.

The project, in short, aims to re-mean both the site of the intervention and the building itself by re-establishing links with the past of the Jesuit complex and with the city.

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Inside, the kitchen is the most emblematic and characteristic space of the house. A large room (100m2) located at the south-west end, double height, with views to the west, towards the vineyard, and open to the garden and the pond to the south. A multi-purpose space capable of hosting multiple events around gastronomy (large family and friends meals, private tastings of wines from the estate, etc.), or simply to host common day-to-day family activities.

Attached to the kitchen, a large L-shaped porch is incorporated into the house. The porch makes explicit the rooting of the life of the farm in the nearby land (to step) and to the distant territory (to look). To the west, it connects the house with the vineyards, with Pals as a backdrop. To the south, it controls the sun and extends the kitchen, and its activities, towards the sunny garden and pool.

Two spatial sequences, which intersect in the kitchen, synthesize all the values ​​of the project: the first, from south to north, crosses: the pond, the sunny garden, the porch, the kitchen, two rooms, the new opening between buttresses and , finally, behind trees and vines and wetlands, Montgrí. The second succession, from east to west, begins by leaving behind the Medes – and the Mediterranean – and facing the main facade of the original farmhouse, the old entrance door, the hall, the kitchen, the porch, facing the exceptional sunset.

The concrete walls, poured in 25 cm layers and lightened with arlite (which gives them insulating capacity), not only bring structural and aesthetic attributes to the house, but also thermal behavior: inertia. Inertia which, together with minimized openings and the predominant massiveness in front of the few gaps, configures an almost self-sufficient climatic tool, heir to the tradition of ancestral farmhouses.

This passive behavior is complemented by a radiant floor system (geothermal) and, in the summer, with an extra contribution of air (cooled as it passes through the chamber of the sanitary forge) that is poured into the hottest rooms under cover of the first floor.

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Re-paving the city center defines a new pedestrian area. It corresponds to a part of Banyoles in which the traces of the medieval age are still present. In fact, the urban planning at the historical center shows up as a sequence of squares as ‘Plaça dels Turers’. ‘Plaça Major’ (Central square), ‘Plaça dels estudis’(Studies square) , ‘Plaça de la Font’(Water source square) , ‘Plaça del teatre’(Theater Square), ‘Plaça de l’església Santa Maria’(Square of the church of Santa Maria), ‘Plaça del monestir’ (Monastery square). Most of these names are given due to the buildings to which the squares give access (mainly churches and museums).

The second part of the intervention was to recover the irrigation canals. Originally, these waterways came from Banyoles’ Pond, crossed the city and supplied water to the backyards of the houses. The disappearance of these private gardens generated the progressive covering and degeneration of the quality of the canalized water.

The project restores circulation of people and water through the old town of Banyoles, giving them back the itineraries they occupied originally.

We chose the same material in which all the city center is built. The tiles of travertine stone generate folds in order to form canals or regulation gates. We break the lineality of the pedestrian paths making cuts in their surface so the flow of water can be felt. Certainly, the purpose is to exhaust the possibilities of the material of travertine itself, from the soil to the new paving passing through water.

We strongly believe that the old town will now become a sequence of paths in which the inhabitants would have the possibility to enjoy the historical center and its 12th Century architecture. From now on, the pedestrian will always be accompanied by the presence of water…

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