Journal

Recently Barcelona has seen a blossoming of cooperative housing projects. The first of these that came to my attention, and possibly the most celebrated, is La Borda.

The project was initiated as a non-speculative housing model and contains 28 homes for social rent. The land is owned by the city with the cooperative granted a 75 year lease.

Visiting the building its unusual generosity is clear. Along the street the ground floor frontage is enlivened by a cooperative community grocers. Through translucent corrugated glazing the first and second floors display the double height volume of the large multi-functional communal hall. Large sliding panels can be opened in warmer weather to engage with the street below. If you crane your neck it’s just possible to make out the communal roof terrace at the top of the building. On the left hand side a double-height passage connects the street and surrounding neighbourhood to a large, vibrant park.

The entrance to the building is via this passageway. Peering through the translucent ground floor cladding I could make out that access is via an enormous courtyard, flooded with light, full of planting, which also doubles as the bike store. Images of this space show it to be really joyful, communal and vibrant. A world away from the bleak entrance sequences of much housing.

The south-facing aspect addressing the adjacent park is much more open with full width balconies screened by roller blinds to shade the Mediterranean sun. A ground floor communal space opens out directly on to the park.

The materials used are modest, humble and honest - a bit rough around the edges, not too precious - corrugated metal (I love the little eyebrow canopies above the shop), corrugated plastic, fair face concrete and concrete blocks, and timber. It makes no concession to ‘context’ or style and feels like a place that you could call home. It’s simple, honest, rational, modern design that is even robust enough to take a bit of graffiti here and there. In the route through to the park you can see the building’s timber columns - the building is constructed from cross laminated timber (naturally) to reduce its weight and embodied carbon.

The sense of community simply pours out of this building. It’s so clearly, obviously better than almost any other modern housing anywhere else in the world. That’s not just a function of what it is - which is patently wonderful housing - but the process by which it’s come into being and the cooperative structure within which it exists. In our push to deliver homes in the UK there’s a lot we can learn.

If you want to find out more I would recommend a visit to the website to find out more