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refurbishment and extension of bofill foundation

to raise this project we consider as an aim to respond with a proposal that let to identify the fundació with its referential space, the head office of the provença street. how does the fundació show itself to the society? what’s the image it has to show? what are the parameters to rule its internal organization? the basis of the competition were quite open to this aspect so we wanted to profite this fundació’s courageous bet to create a proposal with character and symbolic charge.

we emphasized the way to perceive the fundació form the outside (physically and in the collective imagination) and we bet on creating a backbone, a multi-functional furniture, which is transformed by the requirements and that articulates the central space in all the floors, contrasting with the existing building. this element creates a representative and innovative image of the fundació allowing a great multi-functional versatility. the item sums up the balance between efficient functionality and corporative poetic to be taken by the fundació. moreover, the dialogue and the balance established by this innovative element to the existing building (precious and valued in the proposal) creates an image of coexistence between past and future, tradition and modernity, of confidence in memory to face the future.

concepts. parameters defining the fundació:

democratic values, participation of the citizenship, redefinition of the political and social boundaries, critical analysis of society... the goals that the foundation sets to itself as areas of work suggest a formal, functional and spatial organization based on parameters that can be architecturally  interpreted. these parameters are:

1. flexibility: spaces that can be physically transformed.

2. versatility: elements that allow different uses and situations.

3. permeable boundaries: the relationship between spaces, meeting places, contamination between work areas. 

strategy. organizational and corporative:

we established a strategy of organization reading from a corporative reading, based on the analysis of the program, the operation of the fundació and its outreach potential in society. this corporative strategy is based on the following points:

1. meeting point (nodal scheme): the physical office serves as a core structure consisting of a larger network of collaborators and external workers supplementing in a fixed or sporadic way the human resources of the fundació. it must be the place to exchange views and knowledge among internal workers and external collaborators. in this sense, the headquarters of the fundació need to be a meeting point.

2. cross spaces (local diagram): the proposal defines a range of fields ranging from fixed  working places linked to specific areas of work to common areas of joint and shared tasks. we included in the proposal areas to favor a more cooperative and fluid professional dynamic generating collective ideas.

3. freedom of movement: office opened to visitors or collaborators. the office does not end at the reception, neither in the lobby, but allows free movement of everyon (employees, board members, collaborators ...) the entire building forms the corporative memory of the fundació creating a social landscape shaped by different spaces with degrees of privacy and versatility that allow a wide range of meetings. image of social cohesion and communication between workers and areas.

adress: carrer provença 324. barcelona

surface area: 1.360 m²

restricted competition: 2008

finalist

architects: vora arquitectura (pere buil castells y toni riba galí).

project team: cristina ros, ondrej fabian, eva cotman, jordi palà

structure: eskubi-turró arquitectos

services: quadrifoli gestió integral de projectes

budget consultant: modest mor parís

client: fundació jaume bofill

project management: ferran servicios immobiliarios integrales

images: pere abelló boix