Sant Antoni – Joan Oliver Library, Senior Citizens Center and Cándida Pérez Gardens
Barcelona, Spain · 2007
Photo · Photo by Eugeni Pons
A striking precedent for urban infill architecture that uses a monumental void and dark, vertically-ribbed metal cladding to create a gateway into a public courtyard.
- What we like about this project
- The glass bridge appears to float weightlessly between the two heavy, dark metal-clad volumes.
Materials
- dark-metal-cladding
- glass
- steel
- concrete
Visual identifiers
- dark-metal-cladding
- glass-bridge
- urban-gateway
- void-space
- vertical-ribbing
Style tags
- minimalist
- contemporary
- monolithic
- high-contrast
Visual tags
- urban-infill
- monolithic
- transparency
- portal
- contemporary-civic
- Geometry
- Two tall, dark, vertically-ribbed volumes flank a central, recessed glass bridge volume, creating a strong U-shaped void over a transparent ground floor.
- Facade system
- Vertically-ribbed metal rainscreen panels combined with a structural glass curtain wall.
- Structural guess
- Steel frame with suspended glass bridge structure
- Spatial scale
- A mid-rise public building spanning approximately four to five stories, matching the scale of the neighboring residential blocks.
- Lighting
- Even, diffused daylight with soft reflections on the dark metal cladding and glass surfaces.
- Atmosphere
- Sober, precise, and monumental, contrasting sharply with the weathered texture of the surrounding historic neighborhood.
- Environmental context
- Inserted into a dense, historic European urban block fabric, flanked by traditional multi-story residential buildings with balconies.
- Spatial experience
- The building acts as a gateway, pulling the eye through a monumental dark portal toward the interior courtyard and gardens beyond.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical flanking masses balanced by a horizontal glass bridge and a rhythmic series of vertical metal ribs.
- Style reading
- Contemporary minimalist abstraction
- Program
- Library and community center
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- dark-metal-cladding, glass, steel, concrete
- Visual identifiers
- dark-metal-cladding, glass-bridge, urban-gateway, void-space, vertical-ribbing
- Style tags
- minimalist, contemporary, monolithic, high-contrast
- Visual tags
- urban-infill, monolithic, transparency, portal, contemporary-civic
- Geometry
- Two tall, dark, vertically-ribbed volumes flank a central, recessed glass bridge volume, creating a strong U-shaped void over a transparent ground floor.
- Facade system
- Vertically-ribbed metal rainscreen panels combined with a structural glass curtain wall.
- Structural guess
- Steel frame with suspended glass bridge structure
- Spatial scale
- A mid-rise public building spanning approximately four to five stories, matching the scale of the neighboring residential blocks.
- Lighting
- Even, diffused daylight with soft reflections on the dark metal cladding and glass surfaces.
- Atmosphere
- Sober, precise, and monumental, contrasting sharply with the weathered texture of the surrounding historic neighborhood.
- Environmental context
- Inserted into a dense, historic European urban block fabric, flanked by traditional multi-story residential buildings with balconies.
- Spatial experience
- The building acts as a gateway, pulling the eye through a monumental dark portal toward the interior courtyard and gardens beyond.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical flanking masses balanced by a horizontal glass bridge and a rhythmic series of vertical metal ribs.
- Style reading
- Contemporary minimalist abstraction
- Program
- Library and community center
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture