Research group REARQ and students from the Barcelona School of Architecture will design and field test adaptations of an open system created for rehabilitating multifamily housing in Barcelona’s Southwest Besòs neighborhood.
Pere Joan Ravetllat
Còssima Cornadó
Marta Domènech
Sara Vima-Grau
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Barcelona School of Architecture
Aerial view of the urban fabric and context of Southwest Besòs in Barcelona. © REARQ UPC.
Jury
Nana Biamah-Ofosu
Meredith Bowles
Iker Gil (Chair)
Kieran Long
Tatjana Schneider
For the REARQ team, winning the SOM Foundation European Research Prize is a big international boost for a strategy for improving existing housing that we believe is applicable beyond our local context. It will also allow us to get our students involved in applied research experiences, which will contribute to and expand their training on rehabilitation and housing.
Pere Joan Ravetllat, Còssima Cornadó, Marta Domènech, and Sara Vima-Grau
The main objective of this research is to design different adaptations of an open system for rehabilitating existing multifamily buildings in large modern residential complexes and to test them in the field. Convinced that the most sustainable approach is the rehabilitation and improvement of existing housing, the city of Barcelona has been exploring more comprehensive, large-scale interventions in a built environment where, so far, only scattered buildings have been improved.
The research group REARQ has a strong line of investigation and teaching focused on rehabilitating large modern residential complexes. Recently, thanks to an award from the Barcelona City Council, REARQ designed a full-scale prototype of an “abstract” or open system for improving habitability and energy efficiency in existing buildings. With this foundation, the group will design adapted versions for residential buildings in the Southwest Besòs neighborhood and test their impact and potential for improvement. The main hypothesis is that, with adaptations, this system can provide a strategy that takes into account the collective, environmental, and social dimensions of multifamily housing while also improving specific features.
The research will connect master’s and doctoral students’ academic activities with scientific-technical experimentation based on the design, development, and testing of different adaptations to the prototype, in the context of the needs expressed by the local administration and neighborhood associations. This research can provide significant improvements to existing housing rehabilitation strategies, in this case through coordinated, consensus-driven implementation by different stakeholders in a neighborhood where an urban regeneration strategy is beginning to unfold.
Diagram with examples of possible kits to be combined and assembled on the basic structure of the system designed for the “Regenerar Barcelona” research project. © REARQ UPC.
View of private shared indoor and outdoor spaces potentially provided by the addition of the “Regenerar Barcelona” system. © Regenerar Barcelona project (UPC). Image by Recuerdo Studio.
Pere Joan Ravetllat
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Barcelona School of Architecture
Còssima Cornadó
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Barcelona School of Architecture
Marta Domènech
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Barcelona School of Architecture
Sara Vima-Grau
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Barcelona School of Architecture
is an architect and full Professor at the Department of Architectural Projects at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB). He is also the coordinator of the REARQ Research Group, director of the MBArch UPC Master’s program in Architectural Rehabilitation and Restoration (MBARCH-RRA), and director of the “Housing and the City” undergraduate course on the contribution of residential programs to urban environments. In the field of research, he has served as the principal researcher for various competitive research projects related to the rehabilitation of large residential complexes and vulnerable areas. Recently, he has been involved in applied research projects in Barcelona, coordinating the majority of the UPC team in this project and successfully completing the construction of various prototypes. He has six accredited six-year research periods and has supervised numerous master’s and doctoral theses on residential topics. His professional work has mainly focused on the public sector, with numerous projects involving multifamily and public housing, public facilities, urban space projects, and large-scale rehabilitation projects. His work has been published in various national and international journals, earning multiple awards and recognitions. In the context of this project, he is the coordinator of the master’s course “Rehabilitation of Large Residential Complexes” and the MBARCH-RRA research seminar, involving students from MarqETSAB.
is an architect and Associate Professor and Serra Húnter professor at the Department of Architecture Technology at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB), as well as a member of the REARQ group. She has led competitive research projects in the field of rehabilitating buildings and evaluating their safety and habitability. She coordinates the undergraduate course “Construction IV” on building diagnosis and rehabilitation. She also coordinates the course “Techniques for the Rehabilitation of Safety Conditions” in the MBARCH-RRA master’s program and supervises master’s theses from MarqETSAB and MBARCH-RRA within the research seminar. Her research activity has provided useful contributions in assessing buildings and their possibilities for improvement. She has directed and participated in technology transfer projects with the Barcelona City Council related to the pre-diagnosis of residential buildings in vulnerable neighborhoods, which have led to an advance in diagnostic methodologies for large built stocks. These projects have served as a starting point for the design and implementation of public preferential assistance programs for housing rehabilitation. Finally, she has served as a representative member of the UPC to the Barcelona Housing Consortium’s Social Housing Council since 2021.
is an architect and lecturer and Serra Húnter professor at the Department of Architectural Projects at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB), as well as a member of the REARQ research group at the UPC. Previously, she was a researcher at the ETH Zurich and collaborated with UN-Habitat and various artistic institutions, conducting projects and prototypes that integrate traditional construction techniques and the study of the possibilities and limits of self-construction by incorporating new tools and contemporary technology. Her academic and professional work have received numerous national and international awards and grants. She also coordinates the Contemporary Project track of the MBARCH focusing on new spatial strategies for the Architecture of collective living, and is the director of “Architecture and Re-invention,” an undergraduate course on architectural design that focuses on the intervention and rehabilitation of existing buildings as contemporary residential complexes.
is an architect, researcher in the REARQ group, trainee professor at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB), as well as a PhD candidate having completed her doctoral studies with a scholarship from the Ministry of Science. She specializes in analyzing the existing residential stock and designing public policies and architectural interventions for the urban rehabilitation of residential buildings in vulnerable areas. Her doctoral research has focused on analyzing living conditions, with specific applications in case studies of Barcelona’s Raval and Southwest Besòs neighborhoods. She has participated in competitive projects and agreements with the REARQ group, codirecting cooperation and technology transfer projects in Barcelona. These projects have involved extensive participatory processes and fieldwork with local communities and associative networks. She teaches the course “Techniques for the Rehabilitation of Living Conditions” and “Rehabilitation of Large Residential Complexes” and participates in the research seminar. In the project, she will collaborate in analytical and project design tasks, coordinating teaching activities and the participation of different stakeholders, from doctoral students to neighborhood associations and experts from the public administration.
