ESCOLA MASSANA, BARCELONA

Project description.

Escola Massana (La Massana School of Art) forms part of the long transformation process of Gardunya Square, situated in the heart of Barcelona’s historical district. This project responds to the brief of creating a luminous interior made up of open spaces in its 11,000 square metres of usable surface area, while at the same time achieving an exterior that remains harmonious with the urban web in which it stands. The building is split, both in terms of volumetrics as well as in the solution of the façade, in response to the surrounding construction. In order to give the building a unique and more sculptural character and simultaneously diminish the bulkiness, the part of the building that faces the square is split into two rotating volumes that generate different terraces. The ceramic elements, reminiscent of a brise soleil, that cover the exterior emphasise its volumetric intentions while at the same time protecting the