The discovery of a Roman site inside a municipal administrative building (the remains of a Domus located next to the ramparts), made necessary this project of suitability so that it could be visited in a compatible way with the current use of the building.

The proposal to remodeling this Roman deposit was a commission to Vora Arquitectura, and the main idea was develop a design made in black and white. White is applied to the spaces of routes and it is supported by a scenography showing its structure and whose walls -finished entirely in white- were the support from where seem to emerge the former occupants of the domus. The black has been left to the halls and corridors of the roman deposit, where the stage is generated by the light focused on the exhibits.

Description of the project by Vora Arquitectura

The space containing the Roman site becomes an exhibition space, and the rest of the ground floor is redistributed in order to configure the approach spacesthat connect the foyer of the building to the archaeological site. Those spaces have a double use: circulation and services of the building during the week and antechamber of the site when it is opened to public.

This approach is done through a sequence of linked rooms. It reminds the articulation system of the main spaces of the Roman Domus and villas. Those rooms have square proportions and different heights. They are linked by thick and low thresholds that remind the Roman architecture massiveness.

This sequence of linked rooms defines a round way that crosses the Roman site. It has a strong scenographic character. Some specific elements anticipate the Roman site content. Each room is located on a different stratum of the Roman city (outside-ramparts-intervallum). It is recognizable thanks to the different pavements as well as the bas-relief sculptures on the walls, accompanying the visitor.

Through dark tunneled stairs, the visitor arrives to a longitudinal platform, a sort of balcony raised above the Domus remains.The space disappears, painted in black. Only emerge the archaeological remains and a large mural painting that originally was on the ceiling of one of the Domus rooms.

The platform is an enclosure with glass surfaces that multiply the perception and enlarges a small space thanks to the reflections. The walls and the pavement hide little parts of the archaeological site (an oven, a sewer branch) and interpretive elements in exhibition (interactive screens, remains of some mural paintings found in the Domus, pigments, etc). It all appears behind the glass in an illusionism game when the light is on.

After visiting the Roman site, the visitor is lead again to the linked rooms. One of them incorporates part of the Barcino rampart in one of its walls. It is nowadays part of the structure that still supports the building where the archaeological site is placed.

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Project Architect
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Vora (Pere Buil, Adrià Guardiet, Toni Riba)
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Collaborators
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David Johnen, Joao Ávila
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Structure
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Eskubi-Turró Arquitectes
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MEP consultant
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Quadrifoli
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Lighting Consultant
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Anoche
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Budget Control
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Gerard Codina
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Museography
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Stoa
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Building coordination architect
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Vora (Pere Buil)
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Quantity surveyor
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Gerard Codina
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Museography coordination
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Stoa
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Builder
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closa
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Developer
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Icub. Institut de Cultura de Barcelona
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Location
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Carrer Avinyó 15, Barcelona, Spain.
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Area
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120 sqm
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Dates Project
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2013-2014.
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Dates Works
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2015
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vora is an architecture studio in operation in Barcelona since 2000. It is headed by Pere Buil and Toni Riba, both graduates from ETSAB in 2000. They work in building and urban design, at different scales and typologies, with some forays into industrial design. They combine professional activity with teaching, curating, and cultural activities.

His approach to the design and construction process is based on the abstract and the material. They are interested in reduction and materiality in response to the challenges of architecture. Also because of the traces, traces, and absences as a remnant of memory and its impact on collective identities.

His work has received multiple awards, including the Frame 2020, Surface Design 2020, 2AA 2018, Archmarathon 2014, Ciutat de Barcelona 2013, AJAC 2012, Arquitectura + 2011, and Bonaplata 2007 awards, and has been a finalist or selected in several editions of the FAD, ENOR, Bigmat awards, Spanish Architecture Biennial (BEAU), European Landscape Biennial, Mies Van der Rohe and Arquia / Próxima Awards, among others. It was also exhibited at the Venice Biennale in the Catalan and Spanish pavilions in the 2014 and 2016 editions. In May 2018 they inaugurated their first monographic exhibition “Shared Identities” at the Kolektiv Gallery in Belgrade.

His works with the greatest recognition are: Vallirana 47 (comprehensive reform of a small residential building), the Can Rosés Temporary School, the Ramon y Mar Pavilion (a small domestic extension pavilion), the surroundings of the Born Market, the Juan apartment ( reform of a house) and the Can Ricart Sports Center in El Raval, all in Barcelona; the design of the Nantes chair, a Medical Clinic in Paüls, Rambla Sant Francesc in Vilafranca and the operations yard of the Bank of Spain in Madrid.
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Published on: March 7, 2016
Cite: "Suitability of the Domus Avinyó site by Vora Arquitectura" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/suitability-domus-avinyo-site-vora-arquitectura> ISSN 1139-6415
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