Sculpting art out of a factory
Barcelona industrial site is coaxed into a kinder and gentler purpose
A big, awkward, post-First World War factory captured the heart of renowned Barcelona architect Ricardo Bofill.
That was in 1973, and Bofill loved it so much that he decided to convert the 38,000-squarefoot industrial building into the home of his architecture offices, his archives, a model laboratory, conference and exhibition room — along with his own apartment, guest rooms and all landscaped with spectacular gardens. Because the factory had undergone so many transformations over the years, and contained silos, a tall smokestack and four kilometres of underground tunnels, Bofill had his work cut out for him. Stairs leading nowhere, weirdly proportioned spaces and structural elements hanging over voids all created challenges.
Today, the beautifully reconstructed factory, known as La Fabrica and located in the village of Sant Just Desvern, eight kilometres from the centre of Barcelona, remains a (mostly completed) work in progress. Bofill’s three-storey, 5,300square-foot apartment has three dining rooms, three bedrooms, a fitness room, kitchen and spectacular living room, as well as an elevated garden.
In the upper part of the residence, Bofill has created a stunning living room out of a large area of cement. It is a perfect cube shape with arcing windows that artistically frame it. A pink room on the middle floor provides a more private living space. The kitchen/dining room located on the lower floor is the main meeting spot for the family, with two-sided fireplaces. One of the dining room has a large rectangular dining table made of one piece of Alicante red marble surrounded by chairs and stools that are the re-editions of 19th-century Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi’s designs.
The portion of the factory that Bofill converted to a working studio for himself and his architectural team is a four-storey area, each floor connected by a spiral staircase. Among Bofill’s priorities was the creation of a beautifully landscaped area with plants climbing the walls and hanging from the roof. Plants chosen include eucalyptus, palms, olive and prune trees, and mimosas which create a feeling of romantic ruins as they wander over and around the buildings.
Much of the work on La Fabrica was completed in 1975 with the help of Catalan craftsmen. However, just as Gaudi’s celebrated Sagrada Familia basilica that was begun in 1882 and is yet to be completed, La Fabrica also is a work that Bofill says will always remain in progress.
Ricardo Bofill, of Ricardo Bo- fill Taller de Arquitectura, answers some questions about La Fabrica. When you first looked at the factory back in the 1970s, what inspired your design of the living quarters?
The contradictions and the ambiguity of the old factory inspired me to modify its original brutality, and sculpt it like a work of art. I used those large spaces of the factory to live because it is exactly what I like — high ceilings and vertical openings in the walls for a better luminosity. What were your challenges in the renovation and reconstruction?
Among many other difficulties, the silos were full of cement. It was a very hard task to empty them, make the slabs to divide them into floors and drill walls to dig the windows. What has it been like to live and work there?
It is like living in a monastery. The architects work in austere workspaces — places in the shape of a clover — that favour communication between different teams. The windows are centred on the surrounding landscape, a garden that we have planted on earth slopes and that, accompanied by the songs of the birds, communicates serenity and concentration. Who influenced your design? How?
To a certain extent, the esthetic that has influenced me is that of Étienne-Louis Boullée who was a visionary French neoclassical architect.