Architecture practice Anna & Eugeni Bach has developed the renovation and extension of a two-storey house with a small garden located on the ground floor of a building between party walls in the Barcelona neighbourhood of Sants, Spain. The clients wanted to renovate the house and extend it, to provide it with a new space in contact with the outside.

The proposal turns the pre-existing garden into another space in the house, maintaining direct contact with the outside. The main objective of the project is to create a refuge within the neighbourhood where a large part of the daily activity can be carried out, taking advantage of the pleasant conditions of the Mediterranean climate.

The intervention designed by Anna & Eugeni Bach moves the kitchen on the ground floor to the outside of the house, thus freeing up the interior space for the living room and dining room, seeking to establish connections between all these spaces and the garden. On the upper floor, the private areas of the house are minimally redistributed, trying not to intervene in those areas where it is not strictly necessary.

The two arches that originally separated the interior and exterior currently function as a transition between the living room and the exterior thanks to a translucent gallery structure made of wood and glass, where we find the kitchen, which functions as a new buffer between the living room and the garden while providing natural lighting to the rest of the floor.

«GREEN HOUSE» por Anna & Eugeni Bach / Bach arquitectes. Fotografía por Eugeni Bach

GREEN HOUSE by Anna & Eugeni Bach / Bach arquitectes. Photograph by Eugeni Bach.

Project description by Anna & Eugeni Bach

Enjoying being outdoors. Cooking, eating, and sharing the afternoon with friends under the leaves of a dense ficus tree in an open-air room. Turning the existing garden into an other room of the house creates an oasis within the neighborhood where much of the daily activity happens while enjoying the pleasant Mediterranean climate.

The project consists of the renovation and expansion of a two-story house with a small garden located on the ground floor of a small block between party walls.

The existing house had a kitchen and dining room on the ground floor, in contact with the garden, and bedrooms on the first floor, but it did not have a living room. The assignment consists of renovating and expanding the house by providing it with this new space in contact with the existing patio.

The strategy consists of changing the question and, instead of expanding the house with this piece, we moved the kitchen outside to free up space inside for the living room and the dining room. In this way, we ensure that all these pieces are in contact with the patio and that from all of them, we achieve long views between them and towards the exterior.

«GREEN HOUSE» por Anna & Eugeni Bach / Bach arquitectes. Fotografía por Eugeni Bach
GREEN HOUSE by Anna & Eugeni Bach / Bach arquitectes. Photograph by Eugeni Bach.

The new volume is made with a structure of wood and glass, like a greenhouse, in a location where there is never a big insolation due to the shadows of the building itself and the neighboring ones. On the other hand, the addition being such a transparent piece, we ensure that the rest of the ground floor continues to enjoy natural light.

The new façade of the extension is detached from the vertical line of the property, freeing the two arches that originally enclosed the interior space and that now act as a transit between the living-dining room and the new gallery with the kitchen and study. By separating the façade, the new envelope is freed from the guidelines of the existing building, making small inflections that allow more space in the areas of more activity, both inside and in the patio.

On the first floor, small changes are made to the furniture in the rooms, and the living room/study is reformulated, with the aim of not intervening in those areas where it is not strictly necessary.

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Architects
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Anna & Eugeni Bach / Bach arquitectes. Lead architects.- Anna & Eugeni Bach.

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Builder
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Restyle Works SL.

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Area
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150 sqm.

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Dates
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2024.

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Location
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Sants, Barcelona, Spain.

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Photography
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Anna & Eugeni Bach is an architecture studio founded in 1999 by Anna Bach and Eugeni Bach. The study operates in a broad spectrum of design, from urban planning and architecture to interior and object design.

Anna Bach, Nummi, Finland, 1973. Architect by the Helsinki University of Technology, 2001. Visitant professor at 'Taller Vertical' in ESARQ UIC, Barcelona, directed by Duncan Lewis (1999). PDI Professor in EINA – Univeristy Center of Design and Art in Barcelona, Universitat Autónoma de Bellaterra, Barcelona (2008 – currently).

Eugeni Bach, Barcelona, Spain 1974. Architect by the ETSAB, UPC, 1999. Visitant professor at 'Taller Vertical' in ESARQ UIC, Barcelona, directed by Duncan Lewis (1999). Proffesor in the Mies van der Rohe Chair, ETSAB UPC, under the direction of David Chipperfield (2001). Projects Proffesor in La Salle School of Architecture, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona (2005 - currently).
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