The Éventail Apartment
Barcelona, Spain
Residential. Eixample, Barcelona Spain. 170 m2 + terrace. Completed. 2025
Nestled atop a chamfered corner building in Barcelona’s Eixample, Éventail renovates a 170 m² attic and rooftop terrace as a contemporary reinterpretation of the Catalan apartment. It preserves key traces—wooden beams, hydraulic tiles, ornamental layouts—while introducing luminous architecture that unfolds like a hand fan (éventail, in French), pivoting from a central stair to a radial front façade space.
From concept to execution, Éventail is a project of spatial and temporal continuity—between past and present, structure and light, verticality and plan. Rooted in the metaphor of the éventail, the layout unfolds around a clearly defined central core—a spatial hinge where circulation and light converge. There, a custom-designed white staircase rises beneath a dramatic 7-meter-long automatized skylight, carved into the original roof. Suspended from slender vertical rods and poised above a pebble-like stone plinth, the staircase becomes both a vertical light well and the compositional anchor of the home. From this point, the apartment opens in a radial configuration, dissolving the corridor-room typology in favor of a flowing, interconnected sequence of spaces. Calibrated thresholds and aligned openings articulate an expanding geometry that choreographs movement, light, and perspective.
The intervention celebrates contrast—between exposed raw materials above, and seamless polished volumes below; between raw textures and refined geometries. Light plays a defining role, entering through restored wooden openings and skylights, casting soft shadows across a palette of off-whites, pale oak parquet, and copper accents.
Once the original structure was preserved and partially revealed, a radial geometry naturally emerged as the central concept. A new spatial order was organized around this core, now functioning as the entrance hall highlighted by the custom staircase. From here, a sequence of leveled and aligned openings—once mismatched doorways—creates theatrical frames, directing views toward balconies or monumental wall art, depending on one’s movement.
Crossing these thresholds into the main living area, the ceiling beams begin to radiate outward, forming a gentle curvature that reinforces the project’s unfolding logic. The front rooms were unified, central partitions removed, and space reconfigured into a continuous living area. These spaces are open yet articulated: large rooms unfold organically, defined by subtle curves and thresholds that echo the building’s perimeter.
In the main living room, three monumental canvases etched with figurative line drawings animate the walls like contemporary echoes of classical friezes. A mirrored kitchen backsplash and matte copper fixtures establish a dialogue between old and new.
The rooftop, extends the project upwards into a layered outdoor environment that reflects the fluid interior logic—a garden terrace organized into zones for cooking, dining, and lounging beneath bioclimatic pergolas and lush Mediterranean vegetation. Vertical green walls, a sunken lounge, and a fully equipped open-air kitchen establish an elevated domestic realm that embraces both privacy and openness.
Éventail integrates passive strategies such as cross ventilation, stack-effect cooling through the skylight, and minimal reliance on mechanical systems. The rooftop’s bioclimatic pergolas and vegetated walls enhance thermal comfort and microclimate regulation. Across the home, double-glazed windows, natural insulation, and optimized daylight access reduce energy demand. The project also prioritizes material circularity, restoring and reusing original timber beams, hydraulic tiles, and structural masonry to reduce embodied carbon and preserve architectural memory. Éventail proposes a domestic architecture that is luminous, rooted, and ecologically attuned—a contemporary fan of space, time, and transformation.
