a+t architecture publishers

a+t research group selected 14 case studies of collective housing for the book Density is Home. This second post about the publication features the Can Travi elderly housing project, by Serrat, Egea and García, in Barcelona, Spain.

The building aims to blend naturally into the location, a site with a difference in height of 3.5 metres.The project is for a social housing programme with sheltered apartments for the elderly, serviced housing and a car park. Furthermore, there is a community centre open to all on the ground floor. On designing this programme intense talks were necessary to overcome the initial reticence of the neighbours towards building a new facility in a location where traditionally cars had parked.

Each terrace is really an outdoor extension of the dwelling, with relative visual privacy on the outside and with the ability to improve thermal comfort, due to its depth, which avoids dazzle from the sun in summer and accumulates heat in winter.

The space flows from the living room and the bedroom through a sliding door. For ease of movement there are no conventional doors inside the dwelling, except for the bathroom.

The community centre, located on the lower floor, encourages the social and leisure activity of the residents and avoids generational segregation.

The option of visually linking the rooms diagonally enhances spatial perception and increases the sense of well-being.

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