About
In this first stage, the catalogue focuses on the modern and contemporary architecture designed and built between 1832 –year of construction of the first industrial chimney in Barcelona that we establish as the beginning of modernity– until today.
The project is born to make the architecture more accessible both to professionals and to the citizens through a website that is going to be updated and extended. Contemporary works of greater general interest will be incorporated, always with a necessary historical perspective, while gradually adding works from our past, with the ambitious objective of understanding a greater documented period.
The collection feeds from multiple sources, mainly from the generosity of architectural and photographic studios, as well as the large amount of excellent historical and reference editorial projects, such as architectural guides, magazines, monographs and other publications. It also takes into consideration all the reference sources from the various branches and associated entities with the COAC and other collaborating entities related to the architectural and design fields, in its maximum spectrum.
Special mention should be made of the incorporation of vast documentation from the COAC Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.
The rigour and criteria for selection of the works has been stablished by a Documental Commission, formed by the COAC’s Culture Spokesperson, the director of the COAC Historical Archive, the directors of the COAC Digital Archive, and professionals and other external experts from all the territorial sections that look after to offer a transversal view of the current and past architectural landscape around the territory.
The determination of this project is to become the largest digital collection about Catalan architecture; a key tool of exemplar information and documentation about architecture, which turns into a local and international referent, for the way to explain and show the architectural heritage of a territory.
About us
Project by: 
Created by: 
Directors:
2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar OrnaqueDocumental Commission:
2019-2024 Ramon Faura Carolina B. Garcia Eduard Callís Francesc Rafat Pau Albert Antoni López Daufí Joan Falgueras Mercè Bosch Jaume Farreny Anton Pàmies Juan Manuel Zaguirre Josep Ferrando Fernando Marzá Moisés Puente Aureli Mora Omar OrnaqueCollaborators:
2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Maria Jesús Quintero Lucía M. Villodres Montse ViuExternal Collaborators:
2019-2024 Helena Cepeda Inès MartinelWith the support of:
Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de CulturaCollaborating Entities:
ArquinFADFundació Mies van der Rohe
Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico
Basílica de la Sagrada Família
Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
Fomento
AMB
EINA Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona
IEFC
Fundació Domènench Montaner.
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We kindly invite you to help us improve the dissemination of Catalan architecture through this space. Here you can propose works and provide or amend information on authors, photographers and their work, along with adding comments. The Documentary Commission will analyze all data. Please do only fill in the fields you deem necessary to add or amend the information.
The Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya is one of the most important documentation centers in Europe, which houses the professional collections of more than 180 architects whose work is fundamental to understanding the history of Catalan architecture. By filling this form, you can request digital copies of the documents for which the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya manages the exploitation of the author's rights, as well as those in the public domain. Once the application has been made, the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya will send you an approximate budget, which varies in terms of each use and purpose.
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Memory
Premis de Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos
RIBA International Fellowship 2016
Premio Nacional de Arquitectura 2016 pel Govern d’Espanya, 2017
Entre els premis rebuts per les seves obres:
FAD: 1986, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2014 / Lampelunas: Delta d’Or, 1986 / Marquesina Pal·li: Delta de Plata, 1988 / Restauració del Park Güell: Rehabitec, 1994 ; Diploma Europa Nostra, 1995; Década 1994-2004 / Colonia San José: Hyspalit, 1995 / Kumamoto Annex Museum: Belca, 1995 / Escaleras de la Granja: Dragados d’Arquitectura, 2000; Castilla-La Mancha, 2001; Real Fundación de Toledo, 2006 / Esplanada del Fòrum Barcelona 2004: Especial IX Biennal de Venècia, 2004; Ciutat de Barcelona, 2005 / Intervencions a les Muralles de Palma: COAIB, 2004 / Esglèsia de Sant Gaietà: Guillem Sagrera, Palma, 2009 / Can Cocons: COAIB, 2012 / Paseo de la Ría, Andalucía de Urbanismo, 2017 / Cases La Savina: COAIB, 2018 / Rehabilitació de la Casa Vicens: XIV Bienal Española de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, 2018 ; Premi Lledó de Rehabilitació, 2018.
Llibres de Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos
Park Güell, Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2002
Premi “Guillem Sagrera” 2009, Ed. Ajuntament de Palma, 2010
Monografies. Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos
Cuadernos de Arquitectura, COA Catalunya, 1977
Documentos de Arquitectura, COA Almería, 1988
Catálogos de Arquitectura Contemporánea, Gustavo Gili, 1989
Space Design, Kashima, 1990
El Croquis 61, El Croquis, 1993
José Antonio Martínez Lapeña / Elías Torres, Lampreave, 2014
Works (43)
On the Map
Awarded
Cataloged
Disappeared
All works
Constellation
Chronology (64)
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Garcia House
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
...els tigres i els lleons amuntegats al costat dels pingüins i les foques de qualsevol zoològic i, com un més, aquesta tableta de xocolata que espera ser penetrada amb el seu continu badall. La meva habitació és la tercera unça de l'esquerra; no sé si menjar-me-la o deixar-me empassar pel tub que perfora la tauleta i m'estira des de que surto de l'automòbil fins que em veig llançat al seu interior per la «kentia» que, com sempre, em dirà: ¡alt! M'agrada aquest vegetal esquemàtic de dits punxeguts que recorda l’os de pollastre amb què Hansel i Gretel enganyaven a la bruixa. Però, què diran els veïns? ... Els veïns no diran res; continuaran saludant-se de finestra en finestra creuant les mirades per sobre de la tauleta, i qualsevol matí instal·laran sobre ella una taula de ping-pong per a jugar una partida. -
Andrade Tower
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The plot taken up by the tower measures 30x12m. The special ordinances of the Partial Plan allow 16 floors to be built and voids can be opened in the 4 façades, without the right to overhang in those inside the block. The building houses 80 homes, 4 of which are the same and occupy the vertices of the floor, and 2 others in duplexes are located in the centre of the main side. The roof of the building is a terrace-garden where a pool is the tank for emergency fires. The Velasca Tower in Milan by the architecture studio BBPR was, as desired, distantly reflected in the south façade of the tower, with these overhangs that grow outwards from half the height of the tower. The protective railings of the terraces also grow from this half. -
Mobles Pilma Shop
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, Lluís Cantallops Valeri, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The old market slatted roof protects the continuous storefront on the ground floor. Together with the central entrance door, the singular elements are: the glazed freight elevator, the ladder to the deck and the sign. -
Balay Offices and Showroom
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, Lluís Cantallops Valeri, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The necessary identification of these offices in the chaotic environment in which they are located is solved by covering the entire surface of the façade with metal plate painted bright red, which is the colour of the firm. Inside, there are cozy brown offices and sexy red appliances. -
FAD Award
Finalist. Category: Interior DesignMobles Pilma ShopFAD Award
Finalist. Category: Interior DesignBalay Offices and ShowroomFAD Award
Finalist. Category: ArchitectureAndrade TowerSUER Apartment Building
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, Lluís Cantallops Valeri, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The blind walls of the partitions frame the large open courtyard - with the staircase, the elevator, the galleries and the access bridges to the homes - and are seen with greater dignity despite their absurd presence due to the abrupt change in heights in the same block, as permitted by the mandatory urban planning regulations.Traci Building
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, Lluís Cantallops Valeri, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The building is located in an industrial area of constructions between partitions and with a north-south orientation in its major axis. The first four floors are occupied by a perfume industry with access from the ground floor via a ramp between the unloading docks. The remaining five floors are free floors for rent and have independent accesses. To obtain greater freedom of use, all services and vertical communications have been located along one of the side walls and close to the street. The two rows of pillars in the centre of the building make it possible to place a corridor that leads to the general fire escape, at one end, and a heavy goods entrance door at the other. The lobby of the perfumery factory receives zenithal light through a courtyard, while housing the stairs and the private elevator and illuminating all floors through glass-block windows.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: ArchitectureTraci BuildingValeri Twin Houses
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Twins: either together or apart. To see yourself symmetrically reflected in your neighbour. Common patio with barbecue between both. The garden is the preserved forest. Each house is a double-height nave-room made of cozy wood and brick, while the other outbuildings are attached to both sides of the room.Social Housing Complex in Canovelles
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, Lluís Cantallops Valeri, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur, Miguel Usandizaga Calparsoro
Set of privately developed housing with state subsidy social housing regulations, with an arrangement in isolated blocks of three floors. Each house is made up of three tunnel formwork modules, with a group of modules on a single level and another group with three overlapping modules - triplex. The first group is organised from an uncovered public passage that gives access to the stairs. The gardens of the houses on the ground floor and the reduced height of the blocks contribute to the tree-lined interior street atmosphere. The exterior of the complex is made of brick. The concrete walls of the prefabricated tunnels only appear on the stairs, where thermal insulation is not required. The arrangement of the blocks that organise the group of triplexes gives rise to pedestrian crossings that are at a different level from the parking and circulation streets, and that give independent access to the entrances of the houses and their gardens. The complex is completed by a commercial building and shops on the ground floor of one of the blocks.Estévez House
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The building is located at the bottom of the plot, on the northern limit to allow good sunny conditions in the garden. The house has two floors. On the ground floor the garage, kitchen, pantry, main entrance, dining room, living room, study and master bedroom are projected. On the first floor there are three bedrooms, a children's playroom and a terrace. Almost all the outbuildings face south, making the house adopt a slightly rectangular shape with little depth and a lot of length. An old irrigation pond is used as a swimming pool.Building for the UdG
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, Lluís Cantallops Valeri, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
L’edifici principal es projectà com un cos allargassat servit per un vestíbul-passadís orientat en direcció nord-sud. Al costat de ponent es situen totes les dependències de tamany petit i de difícil integració. Les dependències més grans es disposaran en les plantes inferiors. Les de menor acollida en les superiors, esglaonant l’edifici des de l’exterior. La façana de llevant mostra aquest esglaonat en planta i secció. La façana de ponent és una superfície plana tallada només per les finestres contínues que accentuen la horitzontalitat predominant de la composició. Des de lluny, la silueta de l’edifici, de totxo blanc silici-calcari, es retalla en els camps que rodegen Girona. Les petites finestres quadrades de la planta semi-soterrada, afegida a última hora al projecte, reforcen la imatge de vaixell enmig d’un mar verd de blat.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: ArchitectureEstévez HouseVil·la Cecília Gardens
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The gardens are the scenery of nature. Gaudí and Jujol with their bars, in memoriam. To extend Vil·la Cecília as a public park: similar geometric layouts and the same type of vegetation (cypresses, canary palms, bananas, laurels, orange trees and oleanders) of the garden that surrounds the house, now the cultural centre of the neighbourhood. The layout of the geometry is highlighted by white limestone curbs that frame the cypress fences and organise the road system. The paths, which are hidden from each other, give the impression of a larger garden than it is; it looks like a bit of a smooth maze. On the other side of the wall that encloses Vil·la Cecília, Santa Amèlia Street has been designed as a car lane inside a park, as the Cinquena Amèlia Park on the other side the street is closed with a high barrier of cypresses in a zigzag. Fragments of this fence apparently float on the sidewalks of the street. Alignments of trees from the garden of Vil·la Cecília cross over the sidewalks of pink asphalt towards the gardens of Vil·la Amèlia, establishing a visual continuity between the two. Companies for the natural vegetation of the garden: - False Greek ceramic murals to increase the value of abandoned walls. - A door on each side of the street with the name of the garden and the park. - Three doors with giant vegetable leaves. - Benches of medicinal capsules-skateboards. - "Lampelunas" lamps. - Carpet to be dry-painted on the entrance wall with the garden plan. - Giant leaves of ginko for the pergola descending over the canal-pond. - Copper hairs or roots to accompany the Bronze Ophelia by the sculptor Francisco López. - Tree pits with hollows of orange leaves. - All the cypresses had to be cut and combed by a hairdresser, but they were pruned by gardeners. - And more...Faculty of Geology of the UPC
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, Josep Llinàs Carmona, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Lined up on the south façade we find the seminars and teachers' offices. The main entrance is in the centre of this façade and in a small, attached volume. On the north face, the laboratories and practical classrooms - extensions of the linear block on the south face – are organised in four volumes that are staggered in plan. Through the west façade you enter the bar and the warehouse; on the east side, and through a courtyard with a ramp, to the car park, the library, the warehouses and the facilities.FAD Award
Award-Winner / Winner. Category: Architecture - Public SpacesVil·la Cecília GardensMóra d'Ebre County Hospital
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Les recomanacions del programa funcional i les característiques dels terrenys han donat lloc a un edifici extens i de poca alçada, que s'integra en el paisatge agrícola de l'altiplà sobre el riu Ebre i a les restes de muralla que coronen la vila de Móra. Les unitats d'hospitalització se situen orientades al sud o llevant, al voltant de patis enjardinats als quals els malalts poden accedir amb rampes suaus i gaudir de la seva presència des de les habitacions. Els serveis de bugaderia, cuina, calderes, etc. se situen en la façana nord, al voltant d'un pati de serveis tancat i al marge de la circulació general de l'hospital. La resta de serveis hospitalaris ocupa un bloc compacte amb façana a ponent i cap a uns patis interiors amb cobertes elevades i inclinades sobre puntals. Aquest cos longitudinal de tres plantes i revestit de maó pintat de blanc, és la façana urbana del conjunt. En les unitats d'hospitalització es manté el color marró del maó, semblant al dels camps de cultiu contigus.Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics of the UPC
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Former Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineers. A building capable of housing university teaching facilities without qualified spaces for specific uses is planned. The building is U-shaped in order to give an image of a finished building to the streets that surround it and is ready to be extended with three more arms, which will later complement its final volume. Vertical, clear and strategically placed accesses and communications are projected, a simple and modular structure capable of being distributed on the surfaces appropriate to the needs’ programs. It has two floors except for the east wing, which, due to the unevenness of the land, has three and, despite being called a basement floor, it has direct access from the street located to the south of the building. The structure laboratory of the Roads School with its corresponding offices, transformer, bar, warehouse and the Servotecnia laboratory are located in the basement, at double height. The secretariat and management, classrooms, computers and laboratories are located on the ground floor. The library, classrooms and teachers' offices are located on the first floor; and in a loft that is located between this last floor and the roof, there are the installation areas.Headquarters of Barcelona Activa
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The building that was to be rehabilitated – the former facilities of the Hispano Olivetti company – is located in an area of the city of Barcelona that is undergoing a rapid transformation. The traditional isolation suffered by this part of the city will be resolved with the opening of roads that will definitively connect the rest of the city. These circumstances explain the acquisition and conversion of a building like the one we are dealing with, despite its current isolation. The building was built around the 1950s and consists of basements and three floors. Its structure is made of reinforced concrete and is composed of large pillars paired with turnbuckles that help to save the large lights in the forge and is in a way a replica of the adjacent building, Industries Olivetti, and that due to its interest in structural expressiveness, deserves to be preserved. The project had to transform the current free floor into another one compartmentalised into small workshops of variable surface area between 30 and 100m2, capable of hosting the various activities of a business creation centre. In the organisation of the new plant, the cores of vertical access, staircase, elevator and freight elevator are maintained and a new external fire escape is added, in accordance with current fire regulations. The distribution of the workshops is made with painted concrete block walls up to 2.40m high, with the intention of maintaining a unitary ceiling that allows a better perception of the space and at the same time facilitates the natural lighting of the plant, as well as a more practical and rational layout of the facilities. The privacy of each workshop is ensured by the placement of metal fabric meshes hanging from the ceiling, which isolate each workshop, both from the adjacent one and from the general accesses. In front of the existing building is placed a small construction that houses the offices of the centre; its position qualifies the accesses to the centre, one pedestrian and the other wheeled, for the goods that reach the floors from the basement. A large translucent canopy is also built to protect the entrance to the buildings and the loading dock in the basement.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: Architecture - Remodelling and RehabilitationHeadquarters of Barcelona ActivaFAD Award
Award-Winner / Winner. Category: Buildings of new plant for public useMóra d'Ebre County HospitalGandesa Primary Healthcare Centre
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur, Miguel Usandizaga Calparsoro
Edifici aïllat revestit de maó blanc, amb una entrada a cada façana per a pacients, ambulàncies, personal intern i sortida d'escombraries. L'espai principal alberga dues rampes que connecten el hall amb els altres dos nivells i s'il·lumina a través del pati contigu i amb una línia de finestres altes pintades de blau El revestiment de maó es transforma en una gelosia ceràmica en passar per davant de les finestres per a mantenir fresc l'interior en els calorosos dies de l'estiu tarragoní.Almirall House
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The house opens onto the agricultural landscape dominated by the vineyard. The sum of three attached rural volumes makes it less aggressive towards the landscape.Offices for Banco Simeon
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The façade on the street illuminates the areas below the residential building; there are new skylights in the space occupied by the block’s patio. Acoustic coatings on the vertical walls, wooden panels in the divisions, carpet flooring and cast concrete columns on site protect the cast iron ones.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: Architecture - Remodelling and RehabilitationRehabilitation of the Monastery of Sant Pere de RodesTirant Lo Blanc Housing Complex
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The project arises from the Olympic Village Management Plan. The set adjusts to the plane’s volumetry, although it establishes changes in the alignments. The arched building breaks its rigidity by giving a flick of the tail to a segment of a curve, so that the houses located in the east can see the sea better. The arch’s rear façade appears as a large screen perforated by the equal windows of bedrooms and stairs. On the façade that faces the sea, the curve of the rear arch is transformed into planes that fold to receive the sliding shutters of the living room’s large windows, which both point and protect the entrance to each staircase. The square floor plan of the tower, which was foreseen to be almond-shaped, has been modified to a bow facing the sea. All the façades are disorderly invaded by the shutters sliding over the walls and windows. The centre of the square is a palm tree garden made of different species and sizes, remains of those left from other Olympic facilities. Bar customers will be seated on a one-meter-high terrace surrounding the garden, which is accessed by ramps and stairs. The gabled tile roof was required in all the buildings of the Olympic Village. To avoid an image of a cap, the tower’s roof was inverted inwards.FAD Award
Award-Winner / Winner. Category: Buildings of new plant for private useTirant Lo Blanc Housing ComplexIntervention in Park Güell
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Refurbishment of the Hypostyle Hall, the square and the perimeter bench. Park Güell was a real estate operation of 60 houses for the Barcelona bourgeoisie that failed, and in 1922 the city council bought it and turned it into a public park. The park has never seen its architecture change. Since the 20s, there have only been some punctual repairs and touch-ups. The vegetation has changed and grown, and that sparse and stony image of slopes and ravines is no longer offered to the eye; immobile and permanent vegetation, pruned into stone. An architectural and abstract garden of a rocky nature; a sculpted bare mountain with stone vegetation quarry. The Hypostyle Room is a Greek-style temple with exaggerated Doric capitals and with a dented ceiling with little domes. It supports a dirt square with a wavy edging-bench; a border of acroteria of wave crests with encrusted crustaceans that bring the sea from the horizon closer to the bare mountain. Restoration works of the Hypostyle Hall and the square. Repair of structural elements in poor condition; waterproofing of the roof, and construction of an efficient drainage system; reconstruction of artificial stone coverings of column shafts, capitals and architrave; replacement of tiles on lintels, domes and perimeter bench.Telephone Exchange
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The floor plan of the building shares the lot’s shape: a knife blade. A residual space in the industrial district of Zona Franca. A core-ten iron plinth wraps around the ground floor. The rest of the floors are covered with Robertson Formawail aluminum panels. A fence of prefabricated concrete parts - Como Terragni type - defines the boundaries of the property.Bon Ton House
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Extension and transformation of a 1970 house with a tiled roof into another one with roofs and horizontal terraces. Its privileged location, elevated above the city, from where Barcelona can be seen, has allowed windows to be opened. Their position on the ground floor has changed during construction to search for the most strategic views. The plot is small and the exterior terraces have been treated as extensions of the interior to prevent the spaces that had remained when separating the house from its boundaries from being perceived as residual. It has built walls with lattices that fragment and make this exterior more varied and comfortable. The interior girders extend onto the terrace to support a vegetable pergola.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: ArchitectureBon Ton HouseFAD Award
Finalist. Category: Outdoor SpacesRamps to Castelldefels CastleFAD Award
Finalist. Category: ArchitectureNew Façades of El Corte InglésRehabilitation of the Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Es va proposar convertir el conjunt del monestir en un museu de les seves ruïnes, mitjançant la protecció i conservació de les seves restes. S'han cobert amb làmines de coure les cobertes de la nau de l'església, de la galilea, els merlets i les rematades dels murs. S'ha construït una escala damunt de les restes d'una altra antiga; s'ha col·locat una passarel·la sobre les excavacions de la galilea a l'entrada de la nau de l'església; s'han instal·lat serveis de recepció i s'ha adaptat l'antic refectori per a un petit museu. S'ha construït a la casa de l'abat un centre de reunions i una petita residència per a albergar activitats que potenciïn la visita i l'ús del conjunt. La nostra primera visita al monestir va coincidir amb un dia que els núvols volaven baixos i creuaven la torre del campanar a través de les finestres. Potser era aquella visió enigmàtica i fantasmagòrica el que desitjàvem conservar.New Façades of El Corte Inglés
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, MBM Arquitectes, Oriol Bohigas i Guardiola, David Mackay, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Josep Maria Martorell i Codina, Elías Torres Tur
Department stores are growing and the city asks for a new façade. We spent several months trying to find a civil palatine façade, with a tower or bell tower, like those in the other buildings in Catalunya Square; incorporating memories of New York buildings (Wollworth, Rockefeller Center)..., Rome’s Rinascente, or some of F. Gehry in Boston, or even quieter ones… The façade is made of salmon beige granite, like the letters with the logo at the top of the corner. The plinth that covers the ground floor and the continuous eaves that protect it are made of brass. At the same corner the eaves rise like the wing of a hat. The south corner of the extension is a project of the MBM architecture studio, with horizontal rings on the last three floors. However, after a couple of hours of work, the façade of the interior of the block came easily. It is the façade that covers the evacuation stairs and the installation ducts and is covered with die-cast aluminum plates such as the radiator shutter of the Seat 600 car. Something similar happens in the Eixample’s courtyards: they are elementary and useful, as little in need of representation and ostentation as is the case on street façades. The slabs and granite of the street façades are the same size to fit together when they meet.Baldiri i Reixac School
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The project was conceived with the intention of improving and maintaining the image of the current building, of considerable dignity. The proposal tends, rather than a transfiguration of the building, to a better use of the surface. The reform project has two intentions: On the one hand, to arrange the different parts of the program to obtain maximum profitability of the space, solve the building's vertical communications by adapting them to fire regulations and, on the other hand, to solve the volumetric problems of the building, consequence of the latest additions. Thus, parts of the building are removed, improving its relationship with the immediate surroundings of the Hypostyle Hall, causing an exit at the level of the room of the columns, tangent to the retaining wall, enriching in this way the routes through the park. The fundamental operation of the project consists in the transfer of the current entrance door, thus facing the new staircase and elevator. This makes it possible for us to have the entire free floor of the wing facing south and west. The attic of one wing of the building is converted into a multipurpose room by removing the cover and turning it into a roof. The dining room and kitchens are on the ground floor with their corresponding services, the patio and concierge changing rooms. The three kindergarten classrooms are on the mezzanine floor, and they have a separate staircase from the general one, which at the same time leads to the gymnasium. This is located in the old greenhouse. The administrative offices are located in the west wing of this floor. On the first floor, there are three classrooms and the library in the south-facing wing and a workshop classroom, two tutorials and a department in the west wing. The toilets are located at the ends of the floors. On the second floor there are three classrooms in the south wing and two classrooms in the west wing. On the third floor there is a multipurpose room in the west wing. Above it, on a higher level, the boiler room and the space for the elevator machinery are found. We have tried to control the holes and windows of the building, repeating on some occasions the existing ones and introducing a new type of window, which in the form of a large lattice, provides light and ventilation to the new dependencies, mainly those of services.Constitució Square
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, Juli Esteban i Noguera, Antoni Font Arellano, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Jon Montero Madariaga, Elías Torres Tur
Un jardí escenifica amb lleis pròpies fragments de la naturalesa. Els tests són jardins a les cases. La Plaça de la Constitució és un test a la ciutat. A la plaça es recrea una arbreda semblant a unes altres que són familiars als gironins en els paisatges dels camps de cultius de plàtans i pollancres. L'arbreda creix sobre un pla horitzontal de grava i sorra suau per als passejos, emmarcada per llargs volums de formigó polièdric. Aquesta envolupant tectònica la separa i protegeix dels carrers, i defineix l'àmbit d'aquest test a escala urbana. En els projectes de jardins sempre han estat una constant les cites i les picades d'ullet, que accentuen el seu caràcter lúdic i surrealista. D'aquí la presència davant del Banc d'Espanya de gegants monedes antigues encunyades a Girona; de caps de carpa del riu Onyar, escopidors de pluja; de mosques narcisistes (Sant Narcís és el patró de Girona) en els escocells dels arbres; de bancs amb crestes, o de megàfon amb potes; i de font de lletres traspuant en els quatre rius de la ciutat (quan de la font no brolla aigua, almenys es pot llegir el nom de la plaça). La nena que simbolitza la Constitució va néixer a Girona el dia de la seva promulgació. Cada dècada que commemorés aquesta data, Francisco López anava a modelar una nova figura de la mateixa nena que s'anava a col·locar al costat de l'anterior. La plaça s'estén sobre la coberta d'un aparcament amb un paviment de formigó de rombes verds i grisos. Elevacions en forma de graderies són al seu torn xemeneies de ventilació.Banys de Sant Sebastià Swimming Pools
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The waters belonging to the clubs’ small swimming pools that occupied the Barceloneta beach have been grouped in a new building and distributed in three swimming pools, one of them covered and with bleachers. The complex, built in three stages, occupies the grounds of the old Baths of Sant Sebastià, demolished because of their ruin-like state. Bathing in the new swimming pools at a height of 4m above the beach establishes an almost continuous visual relationship between the framed freshwater and the open sea water. On the ground floor, the entrance to the complex gives access to changing rooms, gyms and warehouses. In the basement there is a parking lot. At the water surface level and on the opposite side of the beach there are other changing rooms, saunas, steam rooms, jacuzzis, a social lounge for the club and a bar-restaurant. On the roof, there is a pediment with bleachers. It is all built in exposed concrete, treated for exteriors by the sea, to be part of the family of isolated and industrial port buildings in the area (increasingly decorated, more majestically).Bosc de la Coma Secondary School
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
L'institut se situa en el límit de la trama urbana per a que, amb la seva gran dimensió i les seves dues plantes, ajudi a ordenar l'entorn d'edificacions aïllades i de camps de cultiu al seu voltant. En la planta superior l'aulari, l'àrea de professors, la biblioteca, la sala d'actes i el gimnàs. En la planta inferior l'accés general, els menjadors i els tallers en contacte amb la pista poliesportiva. Des de l'entrada, amb una rampa i dues escales s'accedeix al nivell superior.Sant Sadurní d'Anoia Primary Healthcare Centre
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The design guidelines and functional programme of the Catalan Health Service of the Generalitat de Catalunya have been used to carry out the Primary Healthcare Centre project. The building is developed on a single floor, to avoid architectural barriers, without resorting to mechanical lifting elements. It is accessed from Carrer de Gelida (the only urbanised street from a small common square in the CAP and the adjoining school group). By means of a slight ramp that overcomes a 50cm difference in level, you reach the main door, on the south façade. The entrance for personnel and goods is located on the opposite façade, where a small parking lot for personnel is also planned. The building is designed in such a way that the outbuildings for public use have the best orientation. Thus, the care areas are located in the southeast, reserving the northern area for services. It has been intended that natural light reaches all parts of the building, so that the use of electrical energy is minimal during the day. The land on which the CAP is built is rectangular and its major side is perpendicular to the street that gives access. It is an introverted construction that develops around two interior courtyards that make it certainly independent of the indifferent environment that surrounds it. The courtyard closest to the public entrance is an elongated rectangle, around which the lobby with the reception and the entrance to the health room, waiting rooms, corridors for medical consultations and consultations social is located. Its pavement is made of cobblestone laid in a doorjamb pattern, with joints where grass grows and where a cherry tree has been planted. The second courtyard illuminates the areas of the medical staff, the doctor on duty, the dining rooms and the facilities. The pavement of this patio is made of floating wood on which pots with begonias rest. The construction systems are traditional and with simple materials, with little technical complication, adapting the material to the function it must achieve. When choosing the materials, the good acceptance of these over time has been important to avoid major maintenance losses in the future. The brick is the exterior cladding material with which the safety shutters are also built, which illuminate all the outbuildings that are developed on the façade. The interior floor of the building is terrazzo. A 1.3m plinth with plastic laminate has been placed in the public areas. The exterior carpentry is lacquered aluminum. A hot and cold air conditioning system has been designed, located on the roof of the building. From the energy-producing center, the air is distributed through ducts that go through the ceiling to the different areas of the building.Ramps to Castelldefels Castle
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur, Miguel Usandizaga Calparsoro
A kilometer of ramps for pedestrians ascends in zigzag curves to conquer the Castle from the centre of the city. The shuttering of the retaining walls are folded Corten steel plates that form the railings when they protrude from the pavement. In order for the steel plates to fit together, it was necessary to tilt the folds with respect to the sides at a relatively small angle that varied depending on the radius of curvature of the ramp. This was impossible to draw with the media of the time, so we used computers for the first time for the project, with a spreadsheet that defined the dimensions of each piece.Mas House
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Listed house located at the intersection of two narrow streets inside the Roman enclosure of Barcelona. It is likely that it was the quarter of a larger dwelling in the old Jewish quarter. The façades on the streets had been restored in the 60s and could not be modified. Its four floors above street level have been remodeled, reused and added from the 14th to 19th centuries, and have withstood an occasional earthquake. The basic idea of the renovation is to recover the presence of part of the original courtyard, with the demolition of added slabs that hid it, and to consolidate the interior structure. An elevator next to a staircase serves the offices of a new functional organisation. The new divisions of the interiors are placed diagonally with respect to the stone walls, as if they were furniture. The twin Gothic windows have been separated from the interior and displayed as if they were objects in a giant display case while the outbuildings they illuminate are distanced from the building in front, located two metres away. A steel staircase that connects the ground floor with the first one tries to recall the staircases of medieval palaces and rescues an imaginary presence of the original staircase of the house. Being separated from the walls, the staircase seems to float in the courtyard even though it is tied with steel bars to the floor and vertical walls. The studio, with a triangular plan, rises on a corner of the roof, from the same family as the constructions of the other neighbouring roofs and from which the Gothic bell towers of the neighbourhood can be seen.University Library, URV
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
La biblioteca s'ha construït en el gran pati d'un altre edifici universitari amb forma d'U. Al vestíbul a la planta baixa, situada a nivell de la part alta del terreny, s'arriba per una passarel·la i per una escala des del pati enjardinat, on queda assentada la planta semisoterrani. Escala i rampa identifiquen, en el conjunt d'edificis, al prismàtic volum de la biblioteca. Les sales d'estudi i informàtica estan localitzades en la planta d'accés i en la planta inferior. La biblioteca està en part a la planta baixa i a la planta superior. L'edifici s'ha construït amb murs de formigó vist en l'exterior i en la façana sud unes grans lames també de formigó actuen com a persiana, alhora que sobre els seus plans inclinats havien d'instal·lar-se panells fotovoltaics. Al jardí exterior la il·luminació és el reflex sobre plaques inclinades de formigó blanc de la llum de projectors encastats en el paviment.Forum 2004 Esplanade
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The 1859 Cerdà plan did not foresee the arrival of Diagonal Avenue to the sea. The construction of a new esplanade above the treatment plant and next to the incinerator and the thermal power plant, in order to organise the 2004 Barcelona Forum, has finally allowed Diagonal Avenue to reach the sea. As a true proof of the principle of sustainability promoted by the Forum, new homes, hotels and public facilities are now coexisting and integrating a new down-town, previously marginal and frowned upon. The Forum esplanade, supported by the Forum Building and the Convention Centre, is an extension of Diagonal Avenue in the shape of a hand with open fingers - a delta towards the sea - which covers most of the now expanded sewage treatment plant. Its surface is 14 Ha. Diagonal Avenue ascends to overcome the Ronda del Litoral from 4.5 m, at its last point with wheeled traffic, up to 17 m, and then begins to descend gently towards the sea. This cover can be seen as a unitary asphalt towel, a giant five-colour patchwork. On this esplanade chimneys and services of the treatment plant emerge. One of them has become a meteorological and orientation centre. Folded pergolas have been built on the esplanade for shade, as well as two large hypostyle rooms, which coincide with the structure of the sewage treatment plant tanks and support a sawtooth metal structure, the north faces of which are covered with glass, while the south faces are covered with photovoltaic cell panels (6,500 m2). The two rooms without side enclosures are two almost factory ceilings that protect 13,000 m2. The toes of the esplanade rise so that their ends become cliffs over the areas of the marina, their interstices house steps and ramps. A ha-ha with steps all around the perimeter of the fingers guarantees an uninterrupted horizon by the presence of railings. The last toe supports a large photovoltaic pergola of 4,500 m2 with four twisted legs, which will be seen as one of the industrial facilities in this area. The pergola receives sun, produces energy and shade as if it were made of reeds. It is a bias plane of 112x50m, inclined 35 degrees and facing south. It is the last viewpoint-beldevere of the city on the water, which can be reached by descending a flight of steps under a pallium.Premio Década
Award-Winner / WinnerIntervention in Park GüellMestre Olivella Dwellings
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Two groups of houses between partitions and on opposite streets enjoy a communal garden-patio, built on the roof of the car park. The garden is shaped by the steps to communicate the four staircases of the houses and the flower beds are thick plantations of tall laurels. The partitions of the communal courtyard have been incorporated into the façades of the houses with the same cladding of Andalusian limestone. The attics and roofs are protected by zinc plates.Rehabilitation of Vapor Sampere and New Dwellings
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, José Rafael Moneo Vallés, Elías Torres Tur
The two residential buildings stand next to Vapor Sampere, a significant example of Sabadell's industrial architecture, built at the beginning of the 20th century to supply energy to the looms that populated the city. The project aims to improve the quality of the interior block space, as well as the volumetric relationship between the new buildings and the factory complex. The building is staggered from its maximum height in the Tres Creus/Sallarès i Pla chamfer, with seven floors, until reaching four floors when it comes into contact with Vapor Sampere in Turull Street. Towards the interior, tilted to the south and enjoying the best views, the buildings open up like a broken polygonal, turning the space between the buildings and the steam into a large semi-public enclosure, with views towards the steam. The obvious differences in the environmental conditions to which the proposal must respond generate a clear differentiation between its exterior, overturned in Tres Creus, and its interior, where the vocation for privacy and calm is present. The exterior façades, with a clear massive character, are built in brick, treated in a different way as it rises in height, with gaps cut into them arranged with the intention of avoiding monotony. Towards the south the façades are lighter, solved with extensible wooden shutters that evoke the enclosures of the inner courtyards, typical of the Cerdà area in Barcelona, which protect some exterior galleries from the sun. It is this duality between envelopes that explains the homes’ ground plan: the bedrooms and bathrooms are towards the outside following a rigorous layout, while towards the interior, oriented to the south and to the views, the more habitable spaces are overturned: living room, dining room and kitchen, with a much freer arrangement, linked to the polygon that defines the façade.FAD Award
Award-Winner / Winner. Category: Outdoor SpacesForum 2004 EsplanadeGilded Hall of the Palace of the Generalitat Government
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur, Luís Valiente
The remodeling of this golden coffered room allows that, while restructuring works are carried out on other wings of the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya, its government can temporarily meet in this space. The mural by Antoni Tàpies, which presided over the previous meeting room, has been moved and now floats on a mirror plinth that has become the backdrop for meetings. The coffered ceiling, the crystal teardrop lamps and the new spotlights for different settings have been wrapped in a semi-transparent golden fabric that makes working at the circular table more welcoming. The old meeting table rests on a circular carpet with a pattern that reproduces a fragment of the pavement on which it is placed seven times larger. All the furniture and decoration that filled the hall has been deposited in the National Museum of Catalonia.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: Interior DesignGilded Hall of the Palace of the Generalitat GovernmentEU Mies Award
NominatedRehabilitation of Vapor Sampere and New DwellingsReorganization of the Guinardó Ring Road and La Rovira Tunnel (South Entrance)
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The surface of action is 5 hectares. The viaduct that floated over the public space has been demolished and vehicular traffic has been reorganised. Walking and playing spaces for citizens are now on the spotlight. Lifts, escalators and ramps allow you to move comfortably despite having to overcome large topographical differences. In the steepest section of the Ronda de Dlat, the two directions of traffic were separated by five metres of height. The fact of demolishing the overhang that supported the upper circulation and moving the vehicles to the lower level has allowed this upper area to become a large promenade, with circulation restricted to services and access to the buildings' garages. The wall on which the overhang rested, the support of this new promenade and next to which traffic now flows in two directions, has been covered with sound-absorbing bricks glazed in two shades of green. A longitudinal planter runs along the upper part of the wall, with hanging plants that help to make its inevitable presence more friendly. All the walls of the renovated area are faced with the same glazed bricks and are crowned by granite blocks. A continuous salmon-coloured modified asphalt pavement covers all pedestrian areas. The lanterns are conventional, in the shape of a curved branch. 470 trees of different species have been planted, especially the tipuana species, to achieve a more unified image throughout the complex. The result has been effortlessly assimilated by the citizens, as if the previous discordant elements about this space had never existed before.Theatre of the CCCB
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur, Luís Valiente
The old theatre was built by the architect Josep Goday in 1912, and it has been remodeled. The rest of the premises have been tidied up and cleaned of unnecessary structures, and the vertical communications have been reorganised. The façade in Joan Coromines Square, opposite the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA), is the set of arches preserved in one of the cloisters of the old hospital, the Casa de la Caritat. The open passage between the theatre building and the old church of the hospital, which connects Valldonzella Street with Coromines Square, widens towards the square on the ground floor to organise a covered outdoor atrium that protects the new front door of the refurbished building. The two hollow arches on the cloister façade help to indicate this access. In the interior trapezoidal space, between the façade of arches and the volume of the theatre, the lobbies have been organised which, by means of escalators, make it possible to communicate the exhibition and cultural levels. These lobbies also connect with the new passage under the square, which serves as an exhibition area and umbilical cord with the main building of the Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCCB). The new roof of this space includes the south façade of the theatre and helps to merge it with that of the cloister. New openings have been incorporated into the geometry of the arches of the protected façade, in which the letters CCCB can be more or less read, which allow views of the square from the inside through unexpected cuts.El Carme Cultural Centre
Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB), Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The Centre replaces the old Carme clinic on the corner between Sant Francesc d'Assís and Francesc Layret Streets. The different geometry of the floors gives rise to the superposition of different volumes that characterise the appearance of the building. The terraces are a consequence of the displacements between volumes on each floor. The volumes of the last three floors are freed from the middle buildings and rush towards the corner with flights that protrude in Layret Street; thus, avoiding the visual presence on the streets of new partition walls that protrude from the neighbouring buildings. On the third floor, the volume recedes over the neighbouring building on Assís Street to obtain a terrace facing the sea, which serves a small interior bar. The building is a curtain wall veiled by 24 cm aluminum shutters, except on the northeast face. The large shutter slats are fixed but modify their inclination to look at each other at vision level.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: ArchitectureTheatre of the CCCBFAD Award
Shortlisted. Category: City and LandscapeReorganization of the Guinardó Ring Road and La Rovira Tunnel (South Entrance)Mostres d'Arquitectura (Barcelona)
Shortlisted. Category: Edificis amb Ús No Residencial. Inclou Edificis de Nova Planta de Promoció PúblicaEl Carme Cultural CentreRehabilitation and Remodelling of Vicens House as a Museum House
DAW Office, Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, David García Martínez, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The approach to Casa Vicens has been done with respect and with a healthy distance and independence. Working like a surgeon would do, the parts that were missing from the work of Gaudí’s prominent personality have been replaced with new additions. In this process, it has been important to act with the utmost precision and without fear. Designing a new staircase to adapt to current regulations and at the same time replacing the ghost of Gaudí’s original staircase has been a challenge. This unique vertical element, accompanied by an elevator, occupies the central heart of the building and relates the three-floor summer house, which Gaudí built in 1885 for the Vicens family, to the volume added in 1925 by the architect Serra de Martínez to house three families on three different floors. The landing of the staircase leads to the outbuildings of the original house, and the new volume expands with a polygonal figure within the extension of the twentieth century. The staircase emerges on the roof as a new volume of geometry complementary to the Moorish style of the house. Casa Vicens has gone from being a private home to a public one, becoming a museum.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: ArchitectureRehabilitation and Remodelling of Vicens House as a Museum HouseBibliography (69)
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