Barcelona, 2014.
“(…) The approach of the competition, won with the motto “Garden of Light” defined clearly the will to preserve the historical garden located around the Vil·la Florida, wich has been working for years as a Civic Cener, while digging out the earth to build below ground level a library that recieves light through courtyards.
The result is a half-buried building, wich faces the city streets by opaque walls, recovering the idea of the old wall of the estate, and a bright interior, simultaneously warm and abstract, capturing its light by repeaing courtyards along the main façade. The honey comb clay (Termoarcilla) blocks placed in dry on the interior walls offer a material wich is natural, earthy and traditional, that dialogues with the abstraction of floors and ceilings in radical white. It is a place to be and to meet oneself. (…)”
(Vicente Guallart, Chief Architect of Barcelona)