Enjoying the space of the outdoor space. Cooking, eating and sharing the afternoon with friends under the leaves of a dense ficus tree in an open-air room. Converting the existing garden into another room in the house to create an oasis within the neighbourhood where a large part of the daily activity can be carried out while enjoying the pleasant Mediterranean climate, these were the objectives of the architects from the Ana & Eugeni Bach studio.
The house, located between party walls, had a kitchen and dining room on the ground floor, open to a small courtyard-garden, with bedrooms on the first floor, but lacked a living room. The clients wanted to renovate and extend it to have a living room open to the outside.
The architects’ original solution was to move the kitchen to the outdoor space, creating a large space with a living room, dining room, kitchen and study, open to the outside.
The new volume was resolved with a wood and glass structure, like a greenhouse, in a location where, due to the shadows of the building itself and those of the upper floors, there is never too much sun. This piece, being transparent, allows us to continue to enjoy natural light, integrating exterior and interior.
The new façade of the extension is separated from the vertical of the building, revealing the two arches that originally enclosed the interior space and now act as a transit between the dining room and the new gallery with the kitchen and the studio. By separating the façade from the vertical of the building, the new envelope is liberated from the guidelines of the existing building, creating small inflections that allow more space in the areas of greatest activity, both in the interior and in the courtyard.
On the first floor of the house, small changes are made to the furniture in the rooms and the living room/study is reformulated, with the aim of not intervening in those areas where it is not strictly necessary.
Project: Green House
Author: Anna & Eugeni Bach.
Completion: 2024
Built area: 150 m2
Builder: Restyle Works SL
Location: Sants, Barcelona.
Photography: Eugeni Bach.
Anna & Eugeni Bach architects
Anna & Eugeni Bach is an architectural practice that operates across a broad spectrum of design, from urban scale to interior and object design. Its work is based on four branches: professional, teaching, research and cultural activity.
Curators of the XV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, and recently curators of the exhibition “Human Traces / World Heritage” at the Alvar Aalto Museum in Finland, their work has been recognised with the FAD International Prize, FAD Prize on five occasions, Finalist in the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Awards and the Iakov Chernikhov International prize for young architects and ASCER Prize for Spanish Architecture.
They have exhibited at the Venice Biennale twice, the Lisbon Architecture Triennial, the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, the Museo ICO in Madrid and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Barcelona. They have lectured at several Spanish universities and international institutions such as the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Washington University in St Louis.
Anna Bach. Nummi (Finland). Architect, Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki, Finland, 2001. Master in Theory and Practice of Architectural Design, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona, UPC, 2014.
Teaching. 2023 Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture, Washington University in St Louis, USA. 2008 – 2022 – Profesora de Taller Final de Carrera, EINA / Centro Universitario de Diseño y Arte de Barcelona, Universitat Autónoma de Bellaterra, Barcelona. 2019 Profesora del Workshop «Multiplicity», International Design Workshop, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Design Sciences. 2015 Profesora del Taller Vertical, ESARQ, Universidad Internacional de Cataluña.
Eugeni Bach, Barcelona. Architect by the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona, UPC, 1999. 2005 – Doctoral thesis in progress “La necesidad del artificio”. Department of Projects of the School of Architecture of Barcelona, UPC. Thesis supervisor: Eduard Bru. 2005 Awarded DEA – Diploma of Advanced Studies, ETSAB, UPC. 2003-05 Doctoral studies in Architectural Projects, ETSAB, UPC. 1999 Architect by the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona, UPC.
Teaching. 2023 Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture, Washington University in St Louis, USA. 2015 – Present Professor of Projects at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona, UPC. 2022 – Present Professor of Projects at La Salle School of Architecture, Universitat Ramon Llull.
Source: Anna & Eugeni Bach architects
Anna & Eugeni Bach architects
Hercegovina, 24
08006 Barcelona
+34 93 200 29 11
barch@coac.net
annaeugenibach.com
Project by Anna & Eugeni Bach
