In the heart of Poblenou, Barcelona’s tech district, the client needed to transform an office building made up of a basement of around 1,000 m² and a three-storey tower. The basement, with no perimeter windows at all, was a dark, compartmentalised space that was hard to use.

In such a dense urban fabric, reclaiming below-ground space is a great opportunity to add value to a property, as long as it is approached with technical rigour. The design puts people’s wellbeing first: natural light, a sense of space, good acoustics and comfort.

The solution is based on opening two large skylights that capture daylight and bring it into the heart of the basement. Beneath them is a large shared space that encourages meeting and collaborative work, and that spreads the light towards the offices and meeting rooms around the perimeter.

Storage units and technical partitions are arranged radially around this central void. This removes the visual barriers that usually fragment a basement, and from anywhere in the office people keep a visual reference to the natural light.

While the basement is all about openness, the three-storey tower seeks warmth. At its centre is a sculptural oak volume with black vertical grooves that wraps the vertical circulation core and organises the management areas and boardrooms. The contrast between the wood and the precision of the grooves gives the building a sober, elegant and contemporary identity.