Nestled within a late 19th-century building in Barcelona, Spain, Living in a Work of Art is an apartment by Estudio vilablanch showcasing a meticulous restoration of its Catalan modernist heritage. Designed in 2023, the project restores vibrant Nolla tile flooring, polychrome ceilings with intricate cornices, and finely detailed interior woodwork, all while adapting the spaces to meet the functional, spatial, and comfort needs of contemporary life.
This jewel of Catalan Modernism is located in a late 19th-century building in Barcelona. Originally belonging to the Catalan bourgeoisie, the palatial-style residence stood out for its vibrant Nolla tile flooring, polychrome ceilings with intricate cornices, finely detailed interior woodwork, and a layout centered around spacious rooms.
In the 1990s, the residence underwent a change of use and was transformed into office space. During this period, the Modernist elements were concealed: floating parquet was installed over the original flooring, false ceilings were added, hiding the cornices and rosettes, the original paintings were over-restored with excessive retouching, and the interior façade’s woodwork was replaced with aluminum frames.
The challenge for the vilablanch studio was to restore the residence to its original splendor, recovering its rich architectural and ornamental heritage with the help of a team of expert professionals, including architects, interior designers, and artisans. At the same time, it was essential to adapt the spaces to meet the functional, spatial, and comfort needs of contemporary life.
With an approach rooted in honesty, the studio restored the existing elements, and where none remained, it introduced entirely contemporary solutions. No replicas or imitations of the past were made; instead, new, linear elements were incorporated to create a clear contrast with the home’s historical features.
One bold design choice was the creation of new openings to connect spaces, expressed as linear, orthogonal cuts in the original vertical walls. Examples of this intervention include the new access points to the bathrooms and the expansion of the kitchen.
The delicacy of this intervention was further emphasized by the materials chosen for the new transitional spaces: smooth, continuous surfaces for floors, ceilings, and walls, with uniform, neutral colors that do not seek to imitate the original elements.
For the furnishings, a select few pieces of great character were chosen—standalone and independent from the architecture—whose rich colors and materials now harmoniously coexist with the tones of the original floors and ceilings of this historic home.
