
Location Barcelona (Spain)
Client Diagonal 477 SLU
Area 15.280 m²
Year 2020
Status Completed-Built
Typology Offices
Energy Certificate LEED Gold
Awards
MATCOAM Award for the “Best Refurbishment Project” granted by COAM (Madrid Association of Architects)
Award ASPRIMA-SIMA 2021, “Best non-residential real estate development”
Photography Adriá Goula
Team Fermín Vázquez, Peco Mulet, Eduardo Varas, Pablo Garrido, Cristina Gassó, Elisabet Usón, Maialen Andiarena, Ruxandra Avramescu
The KNEM Offices building is located in the Poble Nou neighborhood, on a plot that was part of the extensive complex of the former jute spinning mill popularly known as “El Cànem”. The façade of the original building facing Doctor Trueta Street, included in the Architectural Heritage Protection Plan, has been preserved.
The use of exposed ceramics, related to the historic industrial buildings of Poble Nou, contrasts with the new, more transparent volumes that rest on the cornice of the plinth and house the main work spaces. The rays and the incidence of the sun are filtered by an aluminum lattice that evokes the image of the weaving of jute fibers that were manufactured in the old factory, while blurring the urban presence of the building with its abstract geometry.