Calcigrons / Nook Architects

Architects: Nook Architects
Area: 102 m²
Year: 2025
Photography: Enric Badrinas
Structural Engineering: Francesc Gorgas
Contractor: Calipsa1 S.L.
City: Barcelona
Country: Spain

Calcigrons is a residential refurbishment in Barcelona’s L’Eixample district that reinterprets a 1900 apartment to accommodate the evolving needs of a growing family while preserving its architectural character. Designed by Nook Architects, the project replaces an over-partitioned layout with a clear spatial sequence that transitions from collective to private uses, prioritizing comfort, flexibility, and natural light. The apartment is organized into three zones, with an open-plan living space oriented toward the inner courtyard to capture the greatest amount of sunlight, a central transitional band housing storage, bathrooms, and circulation, and two street-facing bedrooms retained in their original configuration to conserve their historic polychrome ceilings. Structural reinforcement made it possible to eliminate unnecessary partitions and unify the interior, while exposed reinforced concrete flooring and discreetly integrated building systems enhance performance without visual intrusion. Throughout the renovation, restored original elements such as timber beams, ceramic vaults, masonry walls, and wooden joinery are carefully balanced with contemporary materials, creating a nuanced dialogue between the home’s historical fabric and its renewed domestic life.

Rather than treating renovation as an act of replacement, Calcigrons approaches domestic transformation as a careful recalibration of spatial priorities. Nook Architects frames the apartment as a lived environment shaped by daily rituals, where working, resting, cooking, and gathering coexist within a single adaptable framework. The project responds less to stylistic trends than to the rhythms of family life, allowing the architecture to evolve alongside its occupants.

The former compartmentalized plan, typical of L’Eixample apartments, was reorganized to establish a clear spatial gradient from collective to individual use. The most luminous area of the home, facing the inner courtyard, becomes a generous communal space accommodating kitchen, dining, living, and informal work and reading areas. This openness encourages interaction while maximizing natural light, a key driver of the design strategy.

Between this shared zone and the bedrooms, a transitional interior band contains the entrance, storage, and bathrooms. A freestanding closet element defines dressing areas and circulation without reaching the ceiling, maintaining visual continuity while subtly increasing privacy. At the street-facing edge, the original bedrooms remain enclosed, their historic polychrome ceilings preserved as a reminder of the apartment’s past.

Substantial structural interventions were required to achieve this openness, including steel reinforcement of the slab and the application of an exposed reinforced concrete compression layer that doubles as finished flooring. Thermal and acoustic insulation, along with discreetly integrated building services, enhance comfort without disrupting the architectural clarity. Throughout, restored historic elements are set against stainless steel, stone, concrete, ceramics, mirrors, and walnut wood, establishing a restrained yet expressive dialogue between tradition and modernity.