Apartments, Casa Burés · Interior design project / Barcelona
Clear separation between the new and the existing elements
Interior architecture project to transform a set of houses located on the first, second and third floors of the Casa Burés, into 16 apartments that recover and enhance its original elements at the same time as they adapt to a contemporary aesthetics and today's needs.
The Casa Burés is Casa Burés is one of Barcelona most beautiful modernist jewels located in the located in the intersection of Ausiàs March and Girona streets. It was built between1900 and 1905 by the architect Francesc Berenguer i Mestres, a close collaborator of Antoni Gaudí. The building was named after its first owner, Francesc Burés, a businessman with one of Spain's most successful textile companies.
The building has 7.700 square meters over six floors which originally were distributed this way: the ground floor of the building was for the textile company and a garage, the first floor with 1000 square meters belonged to the Burés family; the upper floors, which had access with one of the first elevators that were installed in Barcelona, belonged to twelve renting apartments of 300 square meters, and the basement was for storage.
Since 1979 this building is catalogued with a B level in protection category as cultural heritage. This makes the restoration, conservation and maintenance of all the modernist elements in the building essential. A challenge done by the interior designers of the vilablanch studio led by Agnès Blanch and Elina Vilá, and TDB Arquitectura team, led by Juan Tiras de Bes.
The interior design project of Casa Burés includes the conceptualization, definition and execution of three apartment typologies: lofts, noble residences and superior flats (these include apartments and attics) in addition to the common amenities. Below we present the interior design project done in the APARTMENTS.
The superior flats -which in the past were rental apartments- were transformed into sixteen apartments among 120 and 170 m2, and also five attics, two of them dúplex after recovering the antique rooftops. The apartments of Casa Burés in Barcelona are 16 architectonic jewels with a high heritage value, that by their own, these apartments are real artworks. All of them have coffered ceilings, nolla floors and sinuous frames. Elements that are carefully recovered to enhance the original elements that give a singular value to the apartment.
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT by Estudio VILABLANCH + TDB Arquitectura
In the superior flats a clear separation between the old and the new elements was searched. The old elements were found in the spaces located in the crown of the building that faces the façade. These spaces had beautiful original decorations like olla pavements, ceilings with rich polychromies... All of these elements were carefully recovered. The walls were painted in a light grey color in harmony with the original colors of floors, ceilings and doors. The doors and its frames were made out of pinewood, its original material. And in the area where there is now the living room, the dining room and the kitchen, two rooms were joined to achieve a more spacious stay, but the coexistence between both ceilings was maintained.
In the interior areas of the flats, where the original elements couldn’t be preserved, the decision was to incorporate new materials that would allow the contrast between the old and the new elements. In this sense, the two main interventions were oak wood floors in areas where there were no Nolla pavements and the application of white as the only color in walls, ceilings, carpentry and in the floors and tiles of the new bathrooms.
DISTRIBUTION
Located on the first, second and third floors of this modernist building, the apartments have an open kitchen to a large living-dining room, a suite bedroom with bathroom, one or two additional rooms, a secondary or courtesy bathroom and a laundry room. The two duplex also have an additional sloped floor conceived as a very neutral box with white walls and oak floors.
Casa Burés is a residential project which involves 26 luxury apartments among 120 and 500 m2. The interior design project of the building has been carried out by the vilablanch studio and TDB Arquitectura, commissioned by Bonavista Developments.
THE CHALLENGE
The challenge was to transform the Casa Burés, a modernist jewel with a big cultural heritage, into an exclusive residential building adapted to the new contemporary aesthetics and the nowadays needs, with extended common amenities.
To make this challenge possible an interior design that recovers and highlights the original elements of the building was carried out. At the same time, each apartment is adapted to today’s living necessities such as, functionality, distribution and commodity.
TWO KEY AXES OF THE PROJECT
DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW ELEMENTS
While doing the elaboration of the interior design project of Casa Burés some specific decisions were taken for each apartment typology, taking into account the original structure and the target. But, at the same time, a clear and important decision was taken for the whole building: restore the elements that were found in good conditions and accompany them with new elements that wouldn’t compete or imitate the old ones.
For this reason we can distinguish between the old and new elements. On the ones hand, the original elements were restored with craftsman’s techniques of the epoch (Nolla pavements, polychromise ceilings, elaborated mouldings…). On the other hand, the new elements don’t compete with the existent (new pavements, ceramics, furniture…). An elegant interior design was chosen which recovers and enhances the valuable architectural and decorative elements that are part of modernism, and accompanies them with materials and contemporary elements just as refined.
DEVELOP A SPECIFIC INTERIOR DESING FOR EACH APARTMENTS TYPOLOGY
3 interior design concepts were defined and developed, taking into account the original characteristics and structure found in each space. The interior design team developed three concepts for three different apartment modalities:
· An interior design concept for the 3 lofts located in the ground level and the common amenities in the basement: Industrial aesthetics inspired in its past.
· An interior design concept for the 2 noble residences located on the main floor and for the building's halls: Absolute respect for existing elements.
· An interior design concept for the 16 flats located in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor, an the 5 attics located in the 3rd and 4th floor (two of them are duplex): Clear separation between the old and the new elements
The interior design project carried out a precise election of the different materials and finishes in each apartment and in the common amenities: pavements, facings, colours (of floors, walls, furniture…) kitchens, bathrooms, doors, knobs, handrails, lighting, furniture, etc…