In the Poblenou district of Barcelona, MH.AP Studio has completed a new house that turns the constraints of a narrow plot into the project’s greatest asset. The commission began with an unusual challenge: construction was already underway, with the structure defined by an earlier design, leaving the layout and overall look and feel still to be shaped. Through a tightly organised three-level plan, colour accents, and gestures drawn from Mediterranean architecture, such as terracotta tiles, built-in furniture and seating that lend the interiors a timeless quality, the house achieves a distinct identity, crowned by a striking blue staircase that becomes its structural and visual spine.
The clients came to MH.AP Studio looking for someone who could build a house. The plot itself belongs to Poblenou’s nineteenth-century industrial grid, whose narrow, elongated lots have become a defining feature of the district as it continues its transformation into one of Barcelona’s most sought-after residential and creative areas.
The project, however, arrived with a rather unusual circumstance: construction had already begun, as the clients – Antònia and Roger – had developed an initial design with another architect.
By that stage, the structure had already been defined, but the layout and the overall look and feel of the house were still open.
Despite the initial uncertainties this created, the studio took on the challenge of adapting to what had already been built, working to the rhythm of an ongoing construction process, while engaging closely with the family’s needs and expectations.
The program is distributed across three levels, with the common areas placed on the lower ground floor and the private ones on the two levels above.
The ground floor is conceived as a transitional space between street and patio, organised around an open kitchen designed as a flexible area.
Both the façade and the interior and exterior floors are finished in rectangular beige terracotta tiles, establishing a material continuity that unifies the different spaces and ties the house to its Mediterranean context.
On the upper floors, a warmer, more domestic atmosphere is created through timber flooring.
The connection between these two worlds — the terracotta ground floor and the timber levels above — is articulated by a staircase that reads, at ground level, as a robust volume integrating the bathroom and storage, before becoming progressively lighter as it rises.
Built in metal, its perforations and balustrade filter light from a skylight down to the lower level. Given the couple’s two young children, the safety of this element was treated as essential from the outset, shaping both its structure and its detailing.
The second level accommodates two bedrooms, while the top floor houses a flexible room that functions as playroom and laundry, opening onto a terrace overlooking the patio. The introduction of small gestures and details helped give the project a distinct and cohesive character.
MH.AP Studio wanted the house to feel luminous and open, and flexible enough to support everyday family routines as well as moments of entertaining.
Terracotta tiles, built-in furniture and seating lend the space a timelessness rooted in Mediterranean architecture, while the metal staircase structure in striking blue and the exposed silver heating pipes introduce a more playful, contemporary counterpoint.
Facts & Credits
Project title Townhouse in Poblenou
Typology Architecture, Interiors, Residential
Location Barcelona, Spain
Completion year 2025
Built Area 113 m2
Architecture MH.AP Studio
Collaborators Architects Carla Julià, Inês Meireles
Construction Construccions Rovian
Building Surveyor and Structural Engineer Óscar Yánez Orpí
Photography Pol Masip