Like many cities, Barcelona faces a housing crisis. Over the last decade, rent prices in Spain have increased 80 percent. Without wages also increasing in tandem, the availability of affordable units has dwindled considerably. In response to this crisis, a redevelopment plan is underway in the city to deliver accessible yet high-quality housing. Part of this plan is Illa Glòries, a collective housing project composed of four blocks. For Block A, the all-women studio based in Barcelona and Paris, Cierto Estudio, takes the brief of accessibility even further: The apartment block is designed to challenge traditional gender roles and assumptions in the domestic space.
A mint green facade with bright red windows make up Block A and its 51 dwellings. The design is immediately inviting, which the architects considered strategically. They organized the block around two central courtyards to promote a sense of socialization and community and to create a sense of mutual vigilance. The corrala layout ensures crossed sightlines in the hopes that highly visible public areas will reduce the chance of crime, particularly domestic violence, occurring within them.
The project’s other communal spaces include a rooftop, which is accessed via large walkways on the south-facing facade. These double as communal balconies for more outdoor access. A dedicated space for childcare and elder-care is also included in the plan. By dedicating a large space for this, the architects highlight the labor that goes into these often under-appreciated tasks, and also encourage communal care by centering this type of labor in the heart of a community. It takes a village, right?
The layout of the units themselves are equally considerate of domestic labor. The apartments are designed as squares, divided into four equal parts with a fifth central room rotated at 45 degrees. The layout doesn’t prioritize any one bedroom. All rooms are relatively equal in size and proportion, allowing them to adapt to shifting needs and accommodate non-traditional family structures beyond nuclear families.
At the south-facing side, the kitchen is given a particular prominence in that it is conceived as a distinct space with long sightlines across the dwelling. This allows those cooking to still feel part of the home and not shut away, and it importantly renders the labor of cooking more visible. The kitchen also opens up to the balconies, making it a key space in the home.
White tiles make up the kitchen, allowing the abundant sunlight from the balcony door to reflect around the space. It falls alongside the overall color and design scheme of the apartments, which are enveloped in white walls and wood floors. In communal and transitional spaces, green from the exterior is carried within, alongside terra-cotta-like flooring. The result is a warm and bright exterior that makes space for calm, yet equitable, respite within.