Via Augusta.
Integral renovation for office building. Barcelona
The task would consist of the comprehensive remodelling of an office building occupied up until then by an insurance company, in the heart of the city, very near to Diagonal Avenue and bordering with the widening Cerdà. This area combines residential and office buildings with commercial ground floors.
The project includes the comprehensive remodelling of the building, which only preserved the building proportion, the floors, stairs, patios and elevator shafts.
The entire intervention emphasizes the following points: full replacement of the façade, remodelling of entrances, lower floor and lobby, adaptation of floors for office use, strengthening the structure and complete replacement of the facilities.
The project differentiates two distinct parts of the whole. On the one hand, the stone block from the ground floor up to the 6th floor, and a metal container from the 7th to the 9th or plant facilities.
A double-glass façade unifies and filters the different heights of the floors and grants maximum transparency to the offices.
In both cases, the materials used show the shiny-mate and smooth-rough contrasts. The final solution is the result of a process that began by partially demolishing the overhang and leaving it asymmetrical, to avoid the pilaster edge that the building has from the first floor and to clearly distinguish the Via Augusta façade from that of the Bosch.
The final outcome of the project is based on the clearance of the original forms, treating the proportion as a sculpted stone cube. A double-glass façade unifies and filters the different heights of the floors and grants maximum transparency to the offices.