A façade as a vernacular climatic device - SARDENYA 356 Residential Project by Atienza Maure Arquitectos

SARDENYA 356 is a residential block of flats designed by Atienza Maure Arquitectos. Located on a narrow plot in the center of Barcelona, the project is grounded in its specific place and time. It draws inspiration from local and anonymous architecture while exploring the potential of appropriating and adapting vernacular architectural elements. The façade functions as a shading system, using adaptable wooden shutters that provide effective climate control on both hot and cold days.

Context

The project is the construction of a building between party walls, of 12 houses in Barcelona. It is located on a narrow plot between Còrsega and Sardenya streets, adjacent to the corner but without access to the block patio.

This almost residual condition in the Eixample fabric led us to propose a façade that was as transparent as possible, connecting the houses as much as possible with the Mediterranean climate of Barcelona but at the same time protecting them from the sun and from a street with a lot of motorized traffic.

Our clearest references at first were the facades with lattice systems and brise soleil from some local projects by architects such as Mitjans, Coderch or Bofill, but we were immediately fascinated by the simplicity of the rear facades of the Eixample, with their apparent non-design, practicality and beauty.

Materiality

The project explores the potential of these nineteenth-century façades of the Eixample block patios, with glazed galleries protected by simple wooden roller shutters and which, when opened, form continuous balconies along the entire façade.

We have adapted this Mediterranean shading system with a bespoke design of motorized standard pine shutters mounted on folding aluminum carpentry. By using commercial wood blinds we ensure that they can be easily and inexpensively repaired or replaced.

The aluminum windows here also go from floor to ceiling to achieve that feeling of maximum openness in summer and winter garden, with polished concrete floors and exposed concrete slab ceilings.

The ground floor has two pass-through duplexes with a rear garden, protected from the street by sliding pine lattices.

The upper body can be fully opened to achieve privacy and an overhead light effect that we believe adds great value to homes that normally have poor living conditions.

References

A vernacular climatic device

This Mediterranean façade protection system using wooden shutters manages to bring coolness in Barcelona’s hot summers and a large amount of light and a greenhouse effect in its mild winters, in a friendly, simple and highly effective way.

Drawings

Facts & Credits
Title SARDENYA 356
Typology Architecture, Residential Project
Location Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Area 1200 m2
Status Completed, 2022
Architecture ATIENZA MAURE ARQUITECTOS
Lead Architects Alonso Atienza Sánchez & Miguel Ángel Maure Blesa
Team Pablo Hernando
Landscape Design Vivers Camp Rubi
Photography Lorenzo Zandri
Text by the authors

Check out, also, El Priorato in Burgos by Atienza Maure Arquitectos, here!