Can Batlló BlocOnze

Description

BlocOnze is a project that aims to re-inhabit a warehouse in Can Batlló based on a neighborhood initiative, to recover the city through the action of the inhabitants themselves. On June 11, 2011, the City Council cedes a warehouse of the industrial site -Block 11- to the platform "Can Batlló is for the neighborhood". It is then when the question arises: How to re-inhabit a self-managed facility with few resources?As architects we have the opportunity to contribute our technical knowledge by integrating ourselves into a complex internal organizational scheme, formed by open commissions that revolve around a general assembly, and that relate to external agents with varying degrees of involvement in the project. The "space design" commission defines the building's rehabilitation strategy and the actions to be carried out. It is in charge of weaving the threads to link with the other commissions and defining the program of uses to be developed in the building, taking into account the spatial needs. Together with the "infrastructures" commission, it coordinates the building rehabilitation tasks. This work is materialized from three different fronts: the collective, voluntary and self-managed work, the work carried out in specific stages by occupational plans financed by the City Council and the work on the building envelope (roof and some windows) by the City Council.The building is spatially organized according to the established uses. The construction of the building itself (an industrial building from the early twentieth century with pillars and beams of wrought iron and exposed brick facades), its memory and the uses it had in the past (textile factory) are ingredients present when working on the interventions to be carried out. The low budget criterion is closely linked to the reuse of spaces and materials. On the first floor are located the 3 most public uses: the popular and self-managed Josep Pons library, an auditorium and the meeting space. On the second floor there is a climbing wall and different multipurpose spaces such as workshops, meeting rooms and an exhibition hall.(Description provided by the architects)