This public facility houses an adult education centre, a language standarisation consortium and a space for organisations on a triangular plot in Barcelona’s Parliament district. Two of the three sides of the site are defined by the heritage-listed Anglesola Street frontage of the former Planell glass factory, built in 1913.
The building makes use of the entire plot and acts as an intrinsic part of the urban landscape, although the triangular shape and the classified façades prevent it from occupying the entire site. The programme is distributed across four levels which are set back from the south-facing heritage facade. The resulting atrium reconciles construction and heritage, improves the natural lighting for the classrooms and provides a heat and sound barrier. This long, narrow courtyard is reproduced at the northern vertex, filling the geometry of the plot and acting as a relational system between the administrative uses of the building and the exterior.
