Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Exterior Photography, Windows, Facade
© Eugeni Pons

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Windows, BrickCa N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Exterior Photography, Windows, Brick, FacadeCa N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, BrickCa N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Facade, ColumnCa N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - More Images+ 24

Barcelona, Spain
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  9418 ft²
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2021
  • Photographs
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  JUNG, Cerámicas Las Losas, Hidrabox, Roca, Teka, Tres, Water Evolution, Whirlpool
  • Lead Architects: Victor Bergnes de las Casas
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Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Windows, Door, Brick, Facade
© Salva López

Text description provided by the architects. Ca N’Alegre is a multi-dwelling building in the neighborhood of Vila de Gràcia, Barcelona. The building occupies one hundred percent of the longitudinal plot (30x6m) completing one side of a block in Calle Ca L’Alegre de Dalt, between Balcells and Passeig D’Amunt. It offers 900m2 of floor space divided into a basement and four floors.

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Exterior Photography, Windows, Brick, Facade
© Salva López

The elevation of the building over Ca L’Alegre has structured into a main ground floor volume plus two stories and an attic that seeks to trick the human eye and reduce the building’s physical appearance by separating it off from the main volume, thereby meeting urban development regulations on height in the area. 

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Windows, Door, Brick, Facade
© Salva López

The floor plan is devised around a central vertical communication hub with two dwellings per landing. It comprises a total of seven dwellings that are distributed on the ground floor plus two stories in Calle Balcells and the ground floor plus three stories in Calle Amount.

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography
© Salva López
Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Stairs
© Salva López

Opposite the plot is Casa Gustà, a modernist property from the early 1900s that marks the boundary with a protected environment. 

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Windows, Brick, Facade
© Eugeni Pons

The building blends into its modernist environment by reinterpreting the composition of neighboring façades to establish a timeless dialogue between two pieces as the building splits into three parts. A plinth that meets the ground, the main body with groups of spaces and eaves that finish off the building.

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Facade, Column
© Salva López
Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Image 29 of 29
Detail 02
Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography
© Salva López

The plinth or base of the building, formed by rows of exposed brick, seeks to connect with neighboring properties and blur the topographical difference between the two streets, as it is broken at several heights. The main body, in rough-textured beige, groups its openings into framed smooth sections that break up the weighty image of a unitary volume. Over it, the eaves form a light, timeless, classic pavilion, placed on the actual building, thereby distracting from the accentuated height of the building.

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Exterior Photography, Windows, Door, Brick, Facade
© Salva López
Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Image 28 of 29
Detail 01
Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Brick
© Salva López

Reinterpreting folding shutters brings out the wood on the façade, providing a warm tone to the building and filtering the light inside the dwelling. In this way, each user can customize how much light and privacy they want.

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Image 21 of 29
Plans

The proportion of its spaces and grouping of windows into frames create a set of contrasts against the hefty aspect of the building and its apparently disorganized composition gives it certain urban continuity.

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Windows, Brick, Facade
© Salva López

Inside, the stories are organized through a gallery parallel to the façade that narrows and widens according to the project’s needs, thereby blurring the image of the lengthened story.

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Windows, Brick
© Salva López

Avoiding historicist language, the project favors restrained, timeless construction by means of a volume that blends into its surroundings thanks to its neutral choice of materials and its contemporary compositional language.

Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas - Interior Photography, Windows, Brick, Facade
© Eugeni Pons

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Project location

Address:Barcelona, Province of Barcelona, Spain

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Ca N'Alegre Residential Building / Bergnes de las Casas" [Edificio de viviendas Ca N’Alegre / Bergnes de las Casas] 18 Jul 2022. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/985270/ca-nalegre-residential-building-bergnes-de-las-casas> ISSN 0719-8884

© Eugeni Pons

Ca N'Alegre 住宅楼 / Bergnes de las Casas

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