In July 2013, their project “Open House” was selected alongside three other finalists from over 30 entries by a multidisciplinary jury made up of architects, members of the district and representatives of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. The other finalists included “Activating the Wall”, a project by professional studio Vora Arquitectura, one of whose members is Pere Buil, a lecturer at the School of Architecture’s 2012 Vertical Workshop.

The students’ project focused on opening the bomb shelter at different points in relation to the surrounding urban area in order to move away from the concept of a shelter and turn the facility into a multi-purpose space where members of the neighbourhood can express themselves freely. The new space would thus be somewhere to visit and remember, but would also be a place to express new local ideas. The architectural intervention respects the site’s history and makes use of wood on the entrance doors in memory of the old glue factory set up at the Can Peguera farmhouse that gave its name to the area.

The jury praised the School of Architecture students’ decision to recover the historic memory of the site, as well as the clarity, simplicity and gentleness of their approach.

“Public Corners” is a competition organized by FAD that allows citizens to take part in designing the city. This third edition focused on six districts of Barcelona (Sarrià, Gràcia, Horta, Nou Barris, Sant Andreu and Les Corts) and six municipalities in the greater Barcelona metropolitan area (El Prat, Sant Adrià, Esplugues, L’Hospitalet, Cornellà and Santa Coloma). Curated by Sara Dauge Godebski and Alejandro Giménez Imirizaldu, the competition aims to recover and revive forgotten and unused areas of the city for public use.

Link al proyecto