torre baró apartment building - bartlett design research...

Torre Baró Apartment Building

by Miàs Architects

Bartlett Design Research Folios


Project Details

Practice: Miàs Architects

Designer: Josep Miàs Miàs realised this project through his practice, Miàs Architects.

Title: Torre Baró Apartment Building

Output type: Building

Function: Social housing

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Client: Barcelona Council (international open competition)

Competitors: MBM (Martorell Bohigas Mackay), BOPBAA (Bohigas Pla Baquero), Enric Massip, Coll – Leclerc, Bailo – Rull, Carlos Ferrater, Josep Lluis Mateo, Josep Llinàs

Practical completion: January 2013

Budget: €4,000,000

Area: 5,000m2

Structural engineer: BOMA

Engineers: PROISOTEC

Statement about the Research Content and Process

Description

The Torre Baró Apartment Building represents an innovative way of designing social housing to create a socially responsive and enriching environment for its urban context. It provides uniquely designed apartments and a matrix of shared routes and spaces for the community.

Questions

1. How can social sustainability be achieved in a mid-density housing project, which is also responsive to the urban and social context of Barcelona?

2. How can material and energy sustainability be achieved through a low-cost passive ventilation design strategy?

3. How can an efficient but innovative building system be developed within a restricted budget?

4. How can digital software design enable prefabricated and systematic building elements to realise a unique building form?

Methods

1. Developing design, modelling and building techniques that can generate a high-quality housing design, responsive to specific urban and social contexts and cost restrictions.

2. Employing computer design to optimise decisions and results, in conjunction with industrial partners, especially towards developing the building’s structure and external envelope.

3. Testing and developing a building system through which to prefabricate elements to reduce construction time on site.

1 (previous page)Central vision of the community balconiesPhotograph Adrià Goula

4 Torre Baró Apartment Building

Statements 5

Dissemination

The building has been exhibited at the CANactions Architectural Festival in Kiev and presented in 15 lectures, including in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Valencia; Chihuahua, Mexico; Catania, Italy; Panamá City; Alghero, Italy; London; Kiev; and São Paulo. It has been published in Barcelona, Transformació; Plans i Projectes, Archiworld, and INDE – Informació i Debat.

The innovative software program for the prefabrication of the double-curved panels of the building was undertaken with collaborators at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia who have since patented the program to industrially manufacture similar GRC panels for the broader market.

Statement of Significance

The building was a Finalist (Selected Project) in the City of Barcelona Architecture and Urbanism Awards (2012).

3Barcelona Council’s PMU Sector 1 plan around Plaça dels Eucaliptus. Connection with

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2The street morphology shows the city’s evolution: e.g. the extensive grid of Eixample, the old road urban settlements, the

detached housing estates and the mountain quarters, located at the very rim of the valley, next to railways, highways and the bed of the river.

public transport: Rodalies inter-municipal train station (R) and Metro station (M)


Introduction

The Torre Baró Apartment Building represents an innovative way of designing social housing. With a clear aim to create a socially responsive and enriching environment, the building provides not just well-considered apartments within an interesting envelope but meaningful communal spaces for social coexistence. Due to budget constraints, the majority of financial, studio and research resources have been put into the design process, in order to achieve high building and living standards through optimal decisions. The project was won through a public competition (called the PMU plan – Pla de Mobilitat Urbana) and Miàs’s proposal won the contract for block A. The PMU included five additional blocks, with winning proposals by Azarq Arquitectura (block B), Vidal + Galiana + Pons (block C), Wodovosoff + Kleinmann (block D), Valero + Bayona (block F) and Marco Vásquez (block G).

Cultural and geographical contexts

The Barcelona plain is formed by four types of geo-morphological elements: a slanting topography (formed by two mountain ranges), perforated by two river valleys; two river deltas intervene into the plain from the coast, and eight hills sit in this plain. Within this context, Barcelona has very limited space to grow. Due to these territorial restraints, new dwelling projects need to explore architectural quality from density. The Torre Baró PMU strategy aims to densify suburban areas while achieving urban consistency.

During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the pre-democratic Council of Barcelona built new neighbourhoods in the sloping terrains near the mountains. The recent history of the whole area, known as Nou Barris, was therefore determined by the arrival of working-class immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s. This urban region has now large infrastructure barriers (highways and railway tracks). And, in comparison to its neighbouring Ciutat Meridiana quarter, it is also one of the clearest examples of pre-democratic speculative urbanism. [fig. 2]

Local urban contexts

Torre Baró was not planned as a high-density housing estate, but as a garden city. However, the plan was not successful and the quarter we see now is the result of 50 years of informal, ad hoc and unplanned development. In 2004 the Council designed a plan of urban improvement, updating the quarter in terms of services and planning new residential buildings. This second phase was the opportunity to redefine Torre Baró on the border of the two quarters (high-density and low-density ones). The PMU plan for Sector 1 created the first urban node for the neighbourhood around the square Plaça dels Eucaliptus. In addition, this new centre is close to public transport, connected to the other side of the highway by a bridge and near a secondary school and other facilities. [fig. 3]

Introduction 7

4Evolution of the central space and aisle-balconies. The vertical communication area is inserted in the volume creating crossed views and interstitial spaces, where public and private come together. 4


Aims and Objectives

Contextual appropriateness

Understanding the particular urban, political, social and geographical context of Barcelona was an important aspect of our research as it helped us determine what kind of project fits best in this specific site. Our research led to the decision to integrate climatically comfortable passages in the form of common aisle-balconies at various widths within the internal atrium area of the block. This network of balconies creates not simply spaces for circulation but also spaces for shared neighbourhood activity. These spaces are marked by surfaces rendered in magenta, defining chromatically the core of the building and the community, an internal common and shared space, different from the external skin, which is rendered in white like other PMU blocks. [fig. 4–6]

In such a suburban context, where there is no continuity with an old urban system, it is necessary to create several categories of social connectivity, such as a central plaza which embodies the identity of the whole community at Torre Baró PMU, public ground floors of the apartment buildings which belong both to the urban area and to each building community, and communitarian distribution spaces which can be used as socialising areas and shared extension places for each apartment. Thus, different grades of shared spaces and identity were used to ‘build’ a social network that didn’t exist before: it is not just about building a zoned physical

environment, but also thresholds of privacy and publicness so as to achieve a complex and strong citizenship. [fig. 7–10]

Neighbourhood density

The project sought to create density in order to strengthen the first urban node for a dispersed neighbourhood around the square Plaça dels Eucaliptus.

Strategic urban visibility

On a metropolitan scale, the project belongs to a long corridor beginning in the northern corner of Barcelona’s Ciutadella Park (old city), following along Meridiana Street towards the Besòs River valley. This location has excellent visibility from the metropolitan roads and connections and is linked with a circulation node (the bridge and the highway). It may be seen as an island surrounded by streams, or as a higher point, where the quarter begins to crystallise into a more dense urban grain.

Urban continuity

The project enhances the idea of urban continuity from Barcelona to the Torre Baró area not in a literal way, but by keeping a sense of urbanism and density around public spaces connected to nodes and facilities. Its design responds to the existing power, water, gas and transport supply systems, increasing the urban density and creating a more enriched social community. [fig. 11]

Aims and Objectives 9

5First level of the building


7Internal community area seen from the outside. The circulation area is understood as a central space for social interaction. Photograph Adrià Goula

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6Central patio and aisle-balconies


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11View of Torre Baró Apartment Building from Plaça dels EucaliptusPhotograph Adrià Goula

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8Vertical communications seen from the ground floor. The design of this space aims to create an impressive entrance and a covered square where neighbours can meet and organise meetings. Photograph Adrià Goula

9Central space entrance. A domestic-scale pergola indicates the main door. Photograph Adrià Goula

10The aisle-balconies enable space for plants and other communitarian occupations Photograph Adrià Goula


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Questions

1. How can social sustainability be achieved in a mid-density housing project, which is also responsive to the urban and social context of Barcelona?

2. How can material and energy sustainability be achieved through a low-cost passive ventilation design strategy?

3. How can an efficient but innovative building system be developed within a restricted budget?

4. How can digital software design enable prefabricated and systematic building elements to realise a unique building form?

Context

For the development of the project we studied designs which have explored the vertical fragmentation of a single volume. See, for example:

1. The Savoy Vase by Alvar Aalto, where the undulating vertical axis increases surfaces and volumetric differentiation in the same item. [fig. 12 & 13]

2. Unbuilt skyscrapers by Mies van der Rohe (Glass Skyscraper, 1922; and Friedrichstrasse Building, 1921): neither example seems to be the result of volumetric aggregation, but of bending a vertical plane to become

‘elastic’ or ‘crystallised’, respectively. As a result, air moves inside or in between the volumes. In addition, these buildings appear to have a greater volume than what is actually constructed.

3. Casa Terrades by Josep Puig i Cadafalch in Barcelona (1905), which unified three plots into a single building occupying the complete block, through a volumetric development that gave the proposal formal diversity and a variety of scales for inhabitation.


13The upper staircase hovers over the central void.Photograph Adrià Goula

12 13

12The vertical void acts as a central common space where accesses building services are located.Photograph Adrià Goula

Questions / Context 17

14 & 15Vertical communications are connected to each apartment through an aisle-balcony from where the landscape can be seen. Photographs Adrià Goula

16Interior of one of the apartments, where the kitchen and the living room can be seen.Photograph Adrià Goula

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Similar considerations are pursued in other work by Josep Miàs, such as the Plug-in Building in Barcelona. The action has been dividing the plot into three blocks with patios. The result is an office complex where views and work are shared. In the

case of Torre Baró apartments, the shared area doesn’t have the same transparency; it is where the access doors to every apartment are. In both buildings, outdoor corridors are prepared for neighbours’ use. [fig. 14–16]

Methods

Identifying design, modelling and building techniques that generated a high-quality social housing design, responsive to a specific urban and social context, and cost restrictions.

a. Design modelling investigationsThe building can be understood as a carved parallelepiped, from which pieces have been removed. The uniform façade of the building has been perforated by the apartments’ balconies, maximising daylight and ventilation of each household/ unit, by opening balconies to the interior. It is as if an old high-density block had been taken and folded around a void to optimise a micro-climate as well as vertical circulation and communication among the co-habitants of the block.

Nevertheless, we maintained a strong commitment to high-quality apartment design: not with very expensive materials but with good design at its essence, so that the apartments provide not only sustainable living but allow diverse lives, cultures and routines. As well as every

apartment being designed individually, special attention was given to communal spaces, where community life can be realised. [fig. 17 & 18]

The team used modelling techniques to evolve the design and physically test how, with every material and new procedure chosen, new ideas could arise and the project could change. The first wooden model realised vertical continuity in a volumetric extrusion with no axial variations. The second wire model allowed slight vertical distortions, but still in a very subtle way. The subsequent pair of models in wax and plaster enabled corresponding levels to be placed onto one another, like a backbone formed by vertebrae. This process helped the team to understand what type of variations could be made on every level: e.g. it was difficult to apply changes to the inclining slant of the walls, but it was easy to cut off parts to leave voids. At the end of the design process a wire model embodied the façade, made of a single sheet of fine cardboard which could be cut, folded and bent.

Context / Methods 19

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17The interior balconies are visible when approaching the building.Photograph Adrià Goula


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18Although curved and slanted, the façade is entirely prefabricated.Photograph Adrià Goula

Methods 21

19Models of the building

A. Plaster model with level division

B. Wire and paper model exploring vertical accesses and façade

C. Wooden model with panels and windows layout

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At this point, the façade was a continuous surface and its geometry was adapted to every change in angle. In addition, the final model reproduced every slab, pillar and panel of the building’s skin, and provided frames and woodwork precisely calculated. Like final building specifications, every panel and element had to be identified, in order to understand how the building could be constructed. Also, during this design process, details and corners models were also produced to design exceptional non-standard connections between different building sections because those differed from the general systematic construction rules. [fig. 19]

b. Low-cost and high-efficiency passive ventilationAchieving sustainable projects requires much more effort in designing strategies that can influence behavioural patterns of inhabitation than simply adding appliances and services, especially when there are budget constraints. In this project, the choice was passive systems to enable: thermal insulation for the façade panels and in the window system; optimal air flows and ventilation inside each flat, and in the building overall; good use of natural light and using white colour that naturally reflects the sunlight in each room (cf. Mediterranean architecture). As a result every building space is naturally illuminated and ventilated, allowing a complete interaction and response to weather changes and comfort requirements. [fig.1]

c. Identifying fabrication materialsThe third major research undertaking was the construction of the building façade in order to avoid overspend in time and money through inefficient design and building

processes. Prefabrication enabled most of these problems to be prevented, because of the consistency of quality and performance in each unit. The chosen material was GRC (glassfibre reinforced cement). GRC pieces have the following advantages:

— Shapeability for complex geometries;

— Shapeability for many textures and reliefs;

— Multiple finishings;

— Bending resistance;

— Impact and vandalism resistance;

— Lightweight (between 1⁄3 and 1⁄10 of the weight of equivalent elements in concrete);

— Less loading for the structure;

— Simpler and cheaper support anchorages;

— Cheaper transport;

— Easier positioning and placing;

— High durability;

— Low needed maintenance;

— Waterproof;

— Weather resistance;

— Low environmental impact;

— Thermal insulation included in every panel.

Methods 23

Employing digital computer design to optimise decisions and results, in conjunction with industrial partners, especially towards developing the building’s structure and external envelope

3D computer design supplemented the physical modelling process to optimise decisions or results, especially for the load-bearing structure and the façade. The first stage captured the differences in the external geometry. One of the strategies adopted was to decrease the volume of structural mass higher up, in order to reduce the load-bearing requirements of the building, while ensuring that the highest structural engineering standards and safety requirements were maintained. [fig. 20]

The whole building, including the façade, were then designed in 3D. Programs like Rhino were used to accurately reproduce surfaces, bulges, slopes and slants. Additional programming was used to detail the façade pattern with the minimum number of special pieces (including corner pieces); and to define the location of windows according to maximum and minimum surface area of the panels and the slabs’ structural strength requirements. These used the parameters of usability and ‘prefabricability’, and were developed together with the industrial partners who later fabricated more similar pieces at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). [fig. 21 & 22]

Testing and developing a building system through which to prefabricate elements to reduce construction time on site

Due to the complexity of the façade in shape, geometries and size, the whole process had to be computerised and pre-ordered (CAD-CAM) to determine a locator and a name for every piece. Most were similar, apart from the corners and those sections which had a specific inclination or curvature. Pieces that needed more technical fabrication formed the double-curvature in the façade, and individual moulds were produced. The most significant outcome from the computational and modelling research process was software innovation for the double-curved surface generation for the manufacturing of the panels. This innovative modelling procedure was developed by the project’s research team with collaborators from the Construction Systems Department of the ETSAB School of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), who since then have patented the program to industrially manufacture GRC panels for the broader market.


203D processes and prefabrication

D. Volumetric operations and skin drafting

E. Panel scheme in the double curved area

F. Computer modelling of the panels

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Methods 25

21View of the building volumesPhotograph Adrià Goula

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2222General view of the building from the streetPhotograph Adrià Goula

Methods 27

23The entire building façade was installed in two weeks

Methods 29

The whole façade was prefabricated in the workshop and taken to the site. It was installed and fixed to the concrete slabs over a two-week period, with an isolated semi-sliding metallic anchorages system that allowed the correction of verticality and repositioning of the panels when necessary. [fig. 23]

The windows, which have their sub-frames incorporated in the panels, were positioned in various angles within the vertical façade. This system allowed a rapid installation on site.

The GRC panels were placed in their position and only needed to be fitted one to the other by means of an elastic joint.

The elastic joints increase the structural capacity of the whole façade, allowing it to move with temperature changes. Each panel corresponds to the whole section of each apartment’s façade. From the interior to the exterior of each apartment, each panel provides a continuous insulating material that is responsive to all the climatic requirements. For the windows, a mechanical joint was designed in order to prevent the entrance of water in extreme weather conditions. [fig. 24–27]


Dissemination

Torre Baró Apartment Building has been exhibited at the CANactions Architectural Festival (Kiev, Ukraine, 2012). The project has been presented in 15 lectures all over the world, including in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (2010); Valencia (2010); Chihuahua, Mexico (2011); Catania, Italy (2011); Panamá City (2011); Alghero, Italy (2011); Barcelona (2011/2012); London (2011); Kiev (2012); and São Paulo (2012). It has been published in Barcelona, Transformació: Plans i Projectes, Archiworld, and INDE – Informació i Debat.

The innovative software program for the prefabrication of the double-curved panels of the building was undertaken with collaborators from the ETSAB School of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) who since then have patented the program in Spain to industrially manufacture similar GRC panels for the broader market.

Methods / Dissemination 31

24 25

24 & 25Installation of the panels on sitePhotograph Josep Miàs


26Prefabrication process in the workshopPhotograph Josep Miàs

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Dissemination 33

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27View of the building volumesPhotograph Adrià Goula

Related writings by others

Book chapter

pp. 35–37‘Torre Baró. Habitatges Illa A, B, C, D, F, I G’, Barcelona, Transformació: Plans i Projectes. Ed. Oriol Clos. Barcelona: Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2008: 160–161.

Journal articles

pp. 39–47‘Special MiAS Architects’. Archiworld 197 (2011): 150–151.

pp. 49–51‘Concurs per a 375 habitatges socials a Torre Baró’. INDE – Informació i Debat (Dec 2005): 40–41.

Dissemination 35


Founding Editor: Yeoryia Manolopoulou

Editors: Yeoryia Manolopoulou, Peg Rawes, Luis Rego

Content © the author

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Typesetting: Axel Feldmann, Siaron Hughes,Alan Hayward

Proofreading: Wendy Toole



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