Eixample Apartment by Bach arquitectes // Barcelona, Spain.

I’m having one of those “I wish I was a Spainish architect” moments again. The current cause of envy is Bach arquitectes, a Barcelona based studio who were handed this original 1910’s apartment and asked to convert it into a current day, family home.

With so many winning features lacing the original bones of the apartment, the trickiest part was adapting the space to their client’s needs whilst preserving the beauty of the original structure. The architects likened the process to solving a “jigsaw puzzle.” They altered floor levels and recessed joinery below cornice level in order to keep skirtings, cornices and flooring intact. If you trace your eyes along the cornices, you can spot where walls have been lost.

Now I’m having trouble steering the conversation away from anything other than the flooring. Squeal almighty! With a different tessellated pattern adorning the floor of each room, each space is infused with its own distinct personality. Yet the consistency in scale and repetition ensures that it weaves together into a clear, single narrative. The slightly worn condition of the graphic flooring makes it only more appealing. Yes, the patterned tile options in today’s market are growing at an exponential rate, but nothing quite compares to an original floor like this, with all its historial richness.

Whilst I’m super impressed with the architects’ ability retain the glory of the existing house with the client’s brief, the curious little lady inside me wonders if they were ever tempted to reveal the fluted concrete slab above the ceiling. We catch a tiny glimpse of it in the sun room and my greedy eyes want to see more. But perhaps ripping those original ceilings out would classify as a case of architectural blasphemy. In which case, just pretend I didn’t say that.

–Ella.