AC7 La nau
The project is located in one of the last vestiges of a small industrial expansion that originated between the centre of Reus and the old train station, now Sant Jordi Park. A small industrial building, once a lamp workshop, stands firm while neighbouring buildings become denser, gradually erasing the memory of the neighbourhood.
The intervention is the result of two overlapping processes: the progressive appropriation of the site and the physical transformation of the space.
The appropriation is as desired as it is necessary. Testing the capacity of the space in an ephemeral way to read and understand it. The site is activated intermittently to host an exhibition, a conference, a party or a temporary workspace. This use before and during the intervention allows for a thorough understanding of the building and its behaviour throughout the hours, days and seasons of the year. This knowledge becomes a vector for the project.
Thus, the physical transformation is subordinated to the intuitions and experiences learned through appropriation and attempts to materialise them. In this case, two clear operations emerge: emptying and equipping.
Emptying involves opening the building to let in light and air. The annexes and the roof of the last bay are demolished, turning the rear of the building into a generously planted courtyard. The new façade draws on the previous experience of the struts and solves a structural problem while modulating the relationship with the exterior. A language of vertical ribs becomes an abstraction of the original structure and manages to make the bulk of the façade habitable.
Equipping arises from the need to inhabit. A central core organises the floor plan into two large spaces, living and working, creating an infinite journey. Both spaces are connected by curtains and sliding doors, modulating their privacy while maintaining the integrity of the building. This strategy maximises the versatility of the space and highlights the capacity of the pre-existing structure and its new permeability.
