Rocha Apartment is an holiday apartment renovation by Colombo and Serboli Architecture in a 1960s Art Nouveau building between Plaça de Catalunya and Plaça de la Universitat, in the centre of the Barcelona. A 1800 square feet (170 sqm) space which includes four bedrooms and a peculiar terracotta tiled balcony, characterized by a simple material palette and white metallic elements which visually link the spaces and furnish the different rooms.
The brief was to transform this neglected, very badly distributed apartment into an attractive holiday home. The property is located in an extremely central street, right between Plaza Catalunya y Plaza Universitat, on the sixth floor of an art nouveau building. Nonetheless, this last floor was built in the ’60 and lacked of the charm of the rest of the building. In order to meet the brief, spaces had to be re-thought completely and all existing partition had to be demolished. The budget was tight and clever solutions were required to complete the needs providing an attractive, contemporary holiday atmosphere. Our client required four bedrooms. Four new bathrooms have been created, of which only one isn’t en-suite. The kitchen has been moved to be part of the wide living and to make space to an extra bedroom. The chosen palette of materials included a micro-cement light grey matt floor, natural timber, and a dash of a different colour for each bathroom, and two shades in the corridor. The rest is white.
The day area was opened up completely by including what used to be a wide, semi-dark entrance space of the previous layout into the new bright living area. The colorful and elegant living room seats and tea table are by Barcelona-based furniture firm Lobster’s Day. The white tubes structures are one of the themes carried through the whole project. They were designed and custom made with white tubes and light coloured Compac surfaces, and form the terrace table and bar, as well as in the kitchen island, the entrance screen, and all the bathrooms. The kitchen island block is intended to allow to cook facing the living area and the same surface of the electric fires continues to create dining table suitable for six people, lit subtly by the streamlined Line lamp by Cronek, hanging above. A great wooden pivoting door spins to give access to the night area. When the door is closed, the teal colour of the walls and ceiling appears framing the wood and through the white hole used as door handle.
Text © Colombo and Serboli Architecture | Photography © Roberto Ruiz
