Convent House / Pineda Monedero

Text description provided by the architects. Convent House is the extension of a 1900 house between party walls in Sabadell, Barcelona. The existing building was a two-storey house with an overbuilt courtyard. The intervention preserves the street façade and the Catalan vault on the ground floor. The rest is emptied with the aim of growing in height and reducing the building’s footprint by freeing up as much space as possible in the courtyard.

The result is a three-storey house. The ground floor is a completely diaphanous space open to the patio with a large window hiding its limits behind the vault. A perforated metal sheet staircase pierces the building from top to bottom, as a light, translucent element that separates spaces without obstructing them. The new floor is a multi-purpose space preserving the existing volume of the gable roof.

Our constructive approach uses traditional techniques such as wooden beamed slabs with contemporary materials such as glass and steel. The new windows made of steel frames and silver blinds are ready-made artifacts protruding from the façade. This deliberate attitude seeks to contrast the patina of the past with the new building materials.