a light peach tone engulfs every corner of this two-family house in barcelona

originally a single-family home, the project superimposes a new hierarchy, ordering itself from a sequence of large rooms connected to each other.

lea zeitoun April 23, 2024 3 min

two families house by Adrià Escolano and David Steegmann

Architects Adrià Escolano and David Steegmann bring new life to a single-family house from the mid-20th century located in Barcelona‘s La Floresta neighborhood in Sant Cugat del Vallés to accommodate two families. The house, with four floors, one of them in the basement, and built with load-bearing walls, is organized based on the equal juxtaposition of rooms of different sizes, some of exude a certain elegance, spaciousness, and symmetry, with large openings. Based on the original matrix, the Two Families House, photographed by José Hevia, superimposes a new hierarchy, ordering itself from a sequence of large rooms connected to each other.

a light peach tone engulfs every corner of this two-family house in barcelona - 1 — all images © José Hevia

camouflaging interventions

Context-wise, the building is surrounded by a garden with different terraces that help overcome the steep slope of the land, with the main access at the highest level and a second access at the lower level. The technical and programmatic specificities of each new use accumulate like a poché on the perimeters of each space at the Two Families House, camouflaging the interventions through appropriating some existing geometries and calligraphy, defining the shape of the void. Furthermore, Adrià Escolano (see more here) and David Steegmann (and here) applied the same color on all planes, reinforcing the value of the space compared to the elements that compose it, mixing the new and the old with a certain ambiguity.

a light peach tone engulfs every corner of this two-family house in barcelona - 2 — Two Families House is located in Barcelona

One of the homes is located on the ground floor, linking its public spaces to the garden. Accessed through an external staircase, the second is organized into the two upper floors. The semi-basement floor, separated from the rest and open to the garden, completes the program of the houses with technical rooms and a set of community spaces. The project integrates the necessary energy improvement actions in the envelope of the spaces. Laslt,y thermal and inertia floors are installed, and an insulating material is injected into the chambers of the walls and ceilings, maintaining the dimensions and skin of the original space.