On 15th July 2021, the FAD association (Fostering Arts and Design) awarded with the first prize the retrofitting works of the factory Can Fabra i Coats to transform it into social housing.
FAD association is highly regarded in Catalonia and Spain, in fact its awards are quite a reference in the field of architecture and urbanism as one of the most ancient prizes in Europe for these areas
Roldan Berengué architects are the authors of this project, which transforms the G building of the XIX century textile factory into 46 social housing and a castellers training room for the Barcelona Municipal Housing Agency.
The jury selected this intervention between 368 submitted proposals. They remarked that it “shows how preservation and rehabilitation of industrial heritage represents an increasingly important challenge for the definition of sustainable urbanism, solving in a brilliant manner the development of a social housing program in an old industrial factory from the 19th century”.
Some of the intervention main ideas were: Common rooms and stairs diagonally connected to the site main square; Preservation of façades that act as a thermal damper for the dwellings; Interior new construction made of laminated wood, chosen material because of its sustainability, lightness, quick and dry assembly and reversibility.
It must be highlighted that this intervention had recently won a BEAU (Bienal Española de Arquitecture y Urbanismo / Spanish Biennal on Architecture and Urbanism) Award and also a nomination for a EUMiesAward 2022.
Author: Belen Onecha Pérez (UPC)