03_La Comunidad Habitacional | Cierto Estudio

COMMUNAL / TYPOLOGICAL APPROACH

D – DETAILS – DATI

Plot area – Superficie lotto: mq 1399.48

Gross Area – Superficie lorda totale: mq 8371

Of which
residential – Di cui Residenziale: 52.17 %

Public/communal areas – Spazi collettivi/comuni: 20.13 %

Facilities for the public – Attrezzature pubbliche: 0%

Business/trade – Commerciale: 8.25

Offices – Uffici:  0

Number of residential units – Numero di alloggi: 51

Typology of users – Tipologia di utenti: Families, Old-aged people, Other

Total building costs Euros – Costo di costruzione totale in Euro: 11300000 €

Building Cost = Total Bulding Cost / Gross Area – Costo di costruzione = Costo di costruzione totale /Superficie lorda totale: 1349.89 €

Floor area ratio = Gross Area / Plot Area – Densità = Superficie lorda totale /Superficie lotto: 5.98

Work started on date – Data inizio lavori: 10/02/2022

Work completion date – Data ultimazione lavori: 29/10/2024

E – OWNERSHIP – PROPRIETA’

Promoter – Promotore
IMHAB (Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge i la Rehabilitació de Barcelona)

Allotment rule – Regola di assegnazione:
Restricted notarised lottery

Reduction cost percentege compared to the market value – Percentuale di riduzione di costo rispetto al valore di mercato:
35 – 55

GENERAL PLANS – PLANS 

G – CANDIDATURE REPORT – RELAZIONE DI CANDIDATURA

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY | SOSTENIBILITÀ ECONOMICA

The project aligns with Spain’s quality construction range of €700-1,500/m² The premium reflects sustainable timber structure, integrated solar systems, and landscaped areas – delivering exceptional value for green social housing standards

Rental/sale cost compared to market price
Costo di affitto/ vendita rispetto al mercato

The project offers rents from €430–820/month, compared to Barcelona’s average of €1,193 (Q1 2024). At €9.23/m² against €20.7/m², costs are 55% lower, with social housing providing a 64–93% discount on standard market rates

TYPOLOGIES 

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY – SOSTENIBILITÀ SOCIALE

Rules of allocation – Regole di assegnazione

Yes, allocation follows structured rules via notarised lottery. Entry requires: registration on Barcelona’s Official Protection Housing Register, city residency, no other property ownership, and annual income below €58,000. Fair, transparent system

Protection of fragile categories
Tutela categorie fragili

The project is partially targeted, with a special provision for low incomes (€4,000-21,000 annually). Strategic reserves include 30% for under-35s, 10% single-parent families, reduced mobility-adapted units and emergency housing allocations

Involvement of inhabitants in the building process – Coinvolgimento degli abitanti nel processo

No, the design and construction of the building were developed before the adjudication process was completed

Community accompaniment in the life of the building – Accompagnamento della comunità nella vita dell’edificio

IMHAB offers broad community support via its Wellbeing in Communities Service, addressing housing issues, preventing conflicts, giving social assistance, and engaging residents through regular meetings to foster successful tenancy management.

SIGNIFICANT SECTIONS

“Community of Rooms” is the winning proposal for the international competition “Illa Glòries,” organized by IMHAB. Our commission encompasses presenting an urban planning proposal for the entire block, as well as the construction of one of the four units constituting the housing complex, contributing 51 residences out of the overall 238.

This project is dedicated to establishing an innovative, high-quality social housing block at a strategic city location. The site holds prominence as it borders Barcelona’s 22@ technological district and the iconic, well-established Eixample neighborhood. Moreover, it faces the upcoming Glories Park, anticipated to be the city’s largest, in proximity to notable structures such as Torre Agbar, Encants Market, and The Museum of Design (HUB). The building shoulders the responsibility of responding to this esteemed site with a design that respects the cityscape—featuring a volume that acknowledges the essence of the Eixample patio block while accommodating the scale characteristic of 22@ buildings.

The building aspires to meet elevated sustainability standards, integrating sustainable and energy-efficient features, selecting materials with a lifecycle conducive to reducing carbon emissions (with a NZEB goal), and ensuring a significant presence of green areas covering 60% of the plot to mitigate the heat island effect.

Illa Glories aspires to cultivate a broad-reaching community. To realize this vision, the design incorporates expansive communal spaces and integrates gender perspective strategies. The two interior courtyards, the external corridors connecting both blocks, and the two communal rooftops provide ample opportunities for fostering a profound sense of community.

At Cierto Estudio, we endorse the positive impact of collective housing on the city. Our design philosophy prioritizes consideration for the surroundings, benefiting both the everyday citizen and the building’s inhabitants. The correlation between public space and a building’s community life extends to the relationship between community spaces and the interiors of the homes themselves.

In this ongoing construction project, we focused on this dual relationship—public space and community space, as well as community space and home interiors.

We conceived a dense block to maintain continuity with Eixample’s urban grid and intentionally provide permeability to the street. A passage between the blocks extends a pedestrian pathway from Diagonal Avenue, concluding at the main entrance of Encants Market. The two housing volumes open to two quieter communal courtyards, offering a protected environment for neighbors away from public activity.

These strategies guided us to formulate a layout addressing four plots within two volumes, connected by a shared basamento that unifies them as a whole community. This presents a professional challenge that undoubtedly requires four design teams to collaborate, ensuring cohesion in the architectural ensemble of the block.

The Illa Glories project is dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive community. To achieve this goal, the design emphasizes extensive communal spaces and incorporates gender perspective strategies. With two interior courtyards, external corridors, and two communal rooftops, the project provides ample opportunities for fostering a profound sense of community. The courtyards play a vital role in hosting various outdoor activities, including gatherings, meetings, casual conversations, and neighborly interactions. These areas not only ensure security but also actively promote community 

Depending on their orientation and position, roofs are utilized for solar gain, housing the building’s equipment or machinery, and for the enjoyment of the neighbors. These additional outdoor spaces are adapted as urban gardens, areas for drying clothes, or simply as a place to rest while enjoying a bird’s eye view of the city.

The apartments consist of a series of interconnected rooms and flexible spaces. Placing a room at the center of the house’s gravity provides autonomy to the connected rooms and radiates life from that central point, fostering seamless communication. Positioning hinged spaces at intersections enables the multiplication of both physical and visual connections diagonally, creating independent rooms as flexible extensions of the house

The continuous communal balcony extends as the access areas and kitchens open up to it, underscoring the importance of the domestic realm within the community. This outdoor space is viewed as an integral part of the home – a place to step outside, dine, read, relax, and engage with neighbors. Serving as a focal meeting point, this outdoor area fosters a sense of community among residents while seamlessly connecting the apartments with other shared spaces.

We design versatile houses that can adapt to changes in our needs in a reversible and effortless way. 

We look for this adaptability in three main aspects: 

Porosity: “I don’t know why, but the house seems bigger!”

Room ambiguity: “I don’t need a huge room, instead I would like a spare room for when my children come on weekends”. 

Multiple entry points: “Carla has left home, so I turned her room into a workspace”.

The concrete slab of the first floor creates a base structural element for the upper levels, the assembly of the cross-laminated timber (CLT) walls and slabs of the seven stories of collective housing above will proceed. The construction is expected to conclude in May 2024. 

GALLERY