Now in its eleventh edition, the architecture festival 48H Open House BCN is on 23 and 24 October and enables visitors to discover new spaces which are not normally open to the public. This year’s programme offers over 275 activities, with visits to 227 buildings, 27 guided itineraries and 21 open itineraries. Activities are being offered in Barcelona, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, Sant Joan Despí, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Vilassar de Dalt and Sitges.
Four of the buildings open to visitors are housing developments by the Municipal Institute for Housing and Renovation (IMHAB) and Barcelona City Council. Two are the social housing projects at Can Fabra and Bon Pastor, while the other two are the cooperative housing projects La Xarxaire and Cirerers.
This project in Unit G at the former Fabra i Coats factory includes 46 homes with social rents for young people and the new headquarters for the human towers group Colla Castellera Jove de Barcelona. Conceived by Roldán Berengué Arquitectes and promoted by the IMHAB, the project recently gained the FAD Award for Architecture 2021 for its capacity to turn an old factory into reconditioned social housing while conserving industrial heritage and taking into account sustainability and integration with the surroundings.
Address: Carrer de Parellada, 7-11, 08030 Barcelona
Times: Sunday, from 10 am to 2 pm
Type of visit: guided tour without reservations
This social housing project consists of a block of 54 homes which maintains the outdoor lifestyle model that went with cheap low-build houses in the Bon Pastor, adding intermediate spaces between public space and the private space of the homes. Conceived by Peris + Toral Arquitectes and promoted by the IMHAB, the project for this block consists of a remodelling process which started in 2006.
Address: Carrer de Biosca, 23, 08030 Barcelona
Times: Sunday, from 10 am to 2 pm
Type of visit: guided tour without reservations
Designed by La Mar d’Arquitectes, this building is integrated into its historical environment through its façade and ground floor. The project offers a healthy, pleasant and environmentally sustainable building. Thermal conditions inside will be enhanced through cross ventilation and solar protection (venetian blinds) in the homes, as well as a design for a rooftop cultivation space. The building will also be made from wood (a renewable material reducing the weight of the building, its energy costs and CO2 emissions compared to conventional construction), with grey water to be re-used for watering and WCs.
Address: Passeig de Joan de Borbó, 10, 08003 Barcelona
Times: Saturday, from 10 am to 7 pm
Type of visit: guided tour without reservations
This was the winning project from a public competition for municipal plots of land to be used for cooperative or leasehold housing. The building has a programme for 32 homes with communal spaces, and at eight floors will be the tallest construction in the Spanish state to be built with wood (structure using cross laminated timber). Designed by Celobert, this will be a passive building with a minimum energy demand in terms of climate control and the production of hot water, and also organic, using materials with the lowest ecological footprint, preferably organic. Visits to the building were recently offered as part of Sustainable Food Week.
Address: Carrer del Pla dels Cirerers, 2-4, 08042 Barcelona
Times: Sunday, visits at 10 am, 11 am, 12 noon and 1 pm
Type of visit: guided tour with reservations
Spotlight on Mediterranean architecture and Coderech for the 2021 edition
This year’s Open House BCN puts the spotlight on Mediterranean architecture. The goal is to discover and understand the past, revising it to be able to design a better and more sustainable future and guarantee good quality of life.
At the same time, the festival will be paying homage to José Antonio Coderch de Sentmenat, a disciple of J.M Jujol who left his mark on Mediterranean architecture. Coderch modernised it and adapted it to the parameters of the modern movement, fusing the functionality of rural architecture with building techniques from the time, without losing its essence. His works include the Trade towers (1986), the block of homes at the Cotexeres de Sarrià (1968) and the Institut Français de Barcelona (1975).