
At the most recent edition of the ‘bulthaup – the kitchen as a living space’ competition, the jury panel unanimously granted the award to the Loft in Ciutat Vella, a project by Estudio Vilablanch —with a kitchen designed in collaboration with bulthaup barcelona— for its success in "highlighting the original space by combining new and existing materials, and using the kitchen as a key element in the layout of the family home.”
The loft was reconceived as a family residence using both the elements from the industrial period –cast iron columns, structural beams, vaults and joists which endow the overall space with an open, almost Spartan character– and the few surviving art nouveau features: certain parts of the original joinery and the tile floors, where the missing sections were replaced with cement as in the most respectful of archeological restorations.
The floor plan, spanning a 220 m2 interior space and a 45 m2 terrace, unfolds between the façade facing the street, where the bedrooms are placed, and the back of the building overlooking the inner courtyard, where the dining room and living/library areas are located. The layout heightens the play on perspective and the open, light feel of the space as a whole.
Memories of the past, pleasures of the present
The kitchen is austere in its color and layout, in keeping with the industrial architecture into which it merges. Its understated protagonism arises from its central position, articulating the different areas in the home. The project is respectful of the past, yet opens up to the future, breathing new life into the spaces of memory and engaging with the pleasures of the present: sharing flavors, aromas, and the best of company.
Photographer: Eugeni Pons