The house, on a long plot between party walls on Comte Vilardaga street, lacked light, ventilation and accessibility, and suffered from damp that affected the health of the home. The brief was to turn it into a comfortable, healthy home on a tight budget.

The strategy was to invest in what cannot be seen — structure, insulation, ventilation and drainage — and to use simple materials for the finishes, recovering the original elements worth keeping.

The key decision was to open rooflights in the roof, bringing natural light inside and making the loft space habitable, which increases the usable area. In the middle of the plot an inner courtyard lights and ventilates every room; the ground floor is also properly sealed and drained. The damp problems were solved: today it is a dry, healthy home.

Superfluous linings were removed to expose the vaulted floor slabs, the handmade concrete party walls and the ceramic tile floors. Alongside them sits a contemporary palette of exposed concrete, glass and exposed steel structure, leaving small cut-outs as windows onto the house’s past.

To solve the lack of ventilation, a mechanical ventilation system with filtration and heat recovery was installed, and the roof and façade insulation was improved to cut winter heat loss and summer heat gain. The structure was simplified and strengthened. Steps were grouped at specific points so that the main areas are on a single level.