CIERTO ESTUDIO: 6 Women Architects Innovating Urban Planning and Collective Housing in Barcelona

CIERTO ESTUDIO was founded by six young architects in 2014. Since then, the team has not stopped growing and thus consolidating its professional practice in Barcelona. These six women architects are: Marta Benedicto, Ivet Gasol, Carlota de Gispert, Anna Llonch, Lucia Millet, and Clara Vidal.

The studio was born from plurality, therefore its thinking is inevitably diverse and this is reflected in its collaborative work methodology, always looking for the maximum architectural claim and its own character. 

With a particular fascination for the collective housing typology, the team always creates innovative designs, designed to adapt to different lifestyles.

In 2017, the studio won its first award in this field for "Illa Glòries" in Barcelona: a master plan for a multi-use urban block and the development of one of the four collective housing units that make up the block.

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Illa Glories / CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO

The studio conceived a dense block that could give continuity to the urban fabric and offer an intentional permeability in contact with the street. They, therefore, generated two volumes that group the free space of the plot in two large courtyards protected from public activity, for the enjoyment of the neighbors.

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Illa Glories / CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO

In the housing units they designed, access is through the balconies, using them as a meeting point between neighbors and connecting the houses with the courtyard and the roof.

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Illa Glories / CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO

They designed versatile houses that can adapt to changing needs in a reversible and effortless way, seeking this adaptability in three main areas: porosity, ambiguity of the rooms, and the multiplicity of accesses.

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Illa Glories / CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO

His project "Kitch-room" was also awarded, obtaining the first prize to develop a building of 68 apartments with public facilities on the first floor, whose typology vindicates the central position of the kitchen in the house. 

They have recently been awarded the leadership of the New Green Axes Model of the urban plan "Superilla Barcelona", which led the studio to lay the foundations for the sustainable transformation of the Eixample district in the next decade. Within this plan, the studio is also in charge of the design of the main axis: Consell de Cent street. 

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Superilla Barcelona / CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO
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Superilla Barcelona / CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO

The idea behind the reform of Consell de Cent street, with a single platform, is to allow people to conquer the center of the street by transforming it into a pedestrian space. Under this scheme, streets go from being roads to move around the city to becoming public spaces with multiple possibilities. An area that previously belonged only to cars can be transformed into gardens, squares, or places for community and neighborhood meetings and relationships. The idea is that these new areas can easily adapt to spontaneous social use, both public and commercial while allowing the city's basic services to continue operating normally.

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Superilla Barcelona / CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO

These three public projects are nowadays under construction, as well as the will of CIERTO ESTUDIO to work outside the limits of Barcelona, its hometown.

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Equipo CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO

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Cite: Sánchez, Mili. "CIERTO ESTUDIO: 6 Women Architects Innovating Urban Planning and Collective Housing in Barcelona" [CIERTO ESTUDIO: 6 mujeres arquitectas que innovan en el urbanismo y la vivienda colectiva de Barcelona] 16 Nov 2022. ArchDaily. (Trans. Pérez Bravo, Amelia) Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/992084/cierto-estudio-6-women-architects-innovating-urban-planning-and-collective-housing-in-barcelona> ISSN 0719-8884

Illa Glories / CIERTO ESTUDIO. Image Cortesía de CIERTO ESTUDIO

6名女性建筑师的创新之路,巴塞罗那城规与社会住房设计事务所:CIERTO ESTUDIO

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