An Outdoor Courtyard Becomes the Living Room of a Family’s Barcelona Row House

June 15, 2022

An Outdoor Courtyard Becomes the Living Room of a Family’s Barcelona Row House

Their gathering space connects to the kitchen and features a built-in bench, a barbecue, and a shade mechanism to stay cool.

Project Details:

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Architects: Vallribera Arquitectes / @vallriberaarquitectes

Foot Print: Approx. 2,185 square feet

Photographer: José Hevia

From the Architect: "We easily agree on a layout with the day-use area on the ground floor: parking for one car, bathroom, living room and kitchen-dining room. Then the bedrooms are located on the first floor: the parents’ room with a bathroom and dressing room, the children’s rooms with access to a terrace, plus a multi-use area for study or play. The working area (or home office) and study are on the second floor, for the whole family, opening onto another large terrace.
The factors that drove the design were the size of the plot and its surroundings. The typology is a row house with an ample width (5.25 m, specifically) but the plot is not very deep. This means that the backyard, normally one of the highest quality spaces in a house of this kind, is quite small. Plus, it opens onto the interior of the block, which is densely built."