A detached house in Gracia, Barcelona. The house designed by Nook Architects is set on the slopes of Vallcarca i Penitents, which belongs to the district of Gracia. The area is characterised by steep streets and narrow passageways, leading to houses that sit high above the city and enjoy distant views of Collserola. Photography: Yago Partal

This area is served by good transport links to the centre of Barcelona. However, due to the city?s layout and urban fabric, the house feels far removed from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

It is an isolated, detached house with all four facades surrounded by a garden. The original structure is crowned by a gabled roof. Later annexed spaces were added to the building to create a more complex volume. Finally, in the 1990s, further renovation work was carried out, in line with objectives and needs that are common to most of our projects.
The existing design was based on a classic layout of common spaces, consisting of a foyer, an independent living room, a dining room and a kitchen closed off from the rest of the rooms. The separate spaces only connected to the central zone via a corridor.

The basic structure of the house combines wooden trusses, beams, joists and vaults, which we were able to uncover.

The first decision taken by the architects and owners was to expose the bare elements that make up the skeleton of the building. By doing so, we were able to showcase the evolution of the hous...