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Ugly Site Converted to a Clever Live/Work Home for a Young Family

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The Barcelona site was unprepossessing to say the least, a narrow open space with a dungeon-like space at each end.

Spanish architect Carles Enrich connects the two spaces with a lovely patio and trains vines over a subtle trellis.

Looking out towards what is now a lovely “garden”space is a family live/work loft on the ground floor (and below ground) of a four story building.

Looking at the plan in section, you see how the basement is made to become a young family’s home, using a split level loft space for the bedrooms, and a kitchen near the patio outside.

The ugly dungeon at the other end of the open space is converted into a satellite studio making this a live/work family home centered around an outdoor courtyard.

Brilliant design connects a stairway right into a chest of drawers. Both seem right, though they contradict each other.

A chest of drawers is at a level to put things in – with your hands.Yet adjacent to it is a place to put your feet – to move through the space.

Storage opens out of both sides of this practical scandinavian chest that separates the baby’s room from the hallway.

Suspended over that clever chest of drawers in the sunken nursery,hanging stairs lead up to the parents’ loft bedroom above.

The new and modern loft exists within the extremely haphazard brick and plasterwork of yesteryear.

The nursery, like the rest of the open plan loft home shares the view out onto the patio.

The baby’s room has a below grade floor for the crib floor, making space for the parents loft bed above it.

The loft bed is suspended in a metal structure that is independent of the building.

Yet the below-grade room underneath doesn’t feel cramped.

The ceiling structure is exposed, a very interesting barrel vault.

Outside, the rustic and artless plaster and brick is all white-washed for a uniform color.

Altogether, what an incredible makeover from this raw material!

The old dry cleaning factory is now a wonderful home built around a central courtyard.