Barcelona‘s Eixample district owes part of its character to washerwomen. They scrubbed the clothes of the Catalan bourgeoisie at wells on Calle Aiguafreda, a narrow and picturesque street, and a recent project answers that history in glossy blue lacquer.
Architect Raúl Sánchez has now restored one of those workhouses, Casa de las Lavanderas. The project, a historic house restoration, turns a cramped two-storey house into a bright, practical home for a couple and their newborn baby.
Turning a working past into a home
Sánchez wanted the house to remember the people who worked in it. Washerwomen and their families once lived there, walking out each day to hand-scrub laundry at the wells.
“The history of the place, the existing wells, the washerwomen… I tried to take all this history and translate it into the present times,” the architect told Wallpaper*. He also set a broader goal: “The biggest challenge is always to make something that can move you.”
Working with a 1.5 metre drop
The house faces two streets, Calle Aiguafreda and Calle Granollers, and the two sit 1.5 metres apart in level. Sánchez used that gap to shape the plan.
Access to the house arrives at mid-level, on a 40 square metre ground floor. A new staircase descends to the lower level, while a second one climbs to the first floor, where the bedrooms and bathroom sit.
Turning an old building into a private home is central to this project, and former Florentine theatre reborn as a luxury home shows how far that idea can stretch.
A lightwell in cobalt blue lacquer
The laundry function is gone, but the building still refers to it. Sánchez painted the central lightwell in glossy cobalt blue lacquer, a contemporary nod to the wells that once stood on the site.
An openable skylight tops the lightwell. Sunlight drops through it into the semi-subterranean spaces on the ground floor, and the architect calls it the element that drives the whole project.
“The well of light, with the glossy blue lacquer, is the element which creates the entire project,” Sánchez says.
If the skylit lightwell is what draws you in, Casa Piva: a windowless facade made bright handles daylight in an equally inventive way.
Japanese influence and open living
The ground floor holds an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area. The client had lived in Japan, and the couple liked the idea of folding doors made from wood and rice paper.
These screens echo the large folding screens the washerwomen used to divide their workrooms. They now separate rooms in the house while letting light move through.
A palette drawn from local clay
The material palette is a dialogue of terracotta tiles, glazed tiles, and reddish lacquers. Terracotta tiles, glazed tiles, and reddish lacquers and paints recall the clay of the neighbouring orchards.
This interior work is only the first phase. A redesign of the garden is currently under development.
Casa de las Lavanderas keeps its history visible without leaning on nostalgia. Sánchez puts his aim simply: “I would like [people] to feel that the house is part of the history of the place, and at the same time, it is adding a new contemporary layer.”
More of Sánchez’s work is available at raulsanchezarchitects.com.
Source: wallpaper.com
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Casa de las Lavanderas restoration in Barcelona?
Architect Raúl Sánchez restored Casa de las Lavanderas, turning the cramped two-storey house into a home for a couple and their newborn baby. The house sits in Barcelona’s Eixample district.
What does the cobalt blue lightwell in Casa de las Lavanderas represent?
Sánchez painted the central lightwell in glossy cobalt blue lacquer as a contemporary nod to the wells that once stood on the site. An openable skylight above it lets sunlight into the semi-subterranean ground floor spaces, and the architect considers it the element that drives the whole project.
How does the house deal with the level difference between its two streets?
The house faces Calle Aiguafreda and Calle Granollers, which sit 1.5 metres apart in level, and Sánchez used that gap to shape the plan. Access arrives at mid-level, a new staircase descends to the lower level, and a second staircase climbs to the first floor, where the bedrooms and bathroom are.
Why are there wood and rice paper folding doors in the ground floor?
The client had lived in Japan, and the couple liked the idea of folding doors made from wood and rice paper. The screens echo the large folding screens washerwomen used to divide their workrooms, and they separate rooms while letting light move through.
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