Ricardo bofill biography

Walden 7 is an apartment building designed by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura and located in Sant Just Desvern near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain.

Walden 7 ricardo bofill taller Walden 7 is a project implementing some of Ricardo Bofill's earliest ambitions and addressing most of the problems of modern city life. It is located on the same lot as Taller de Arquitectura , based in the refurbished ruins of an old cement factory. The housing structure benefits from Bofill's earlier research and the idea of providing public spaces and gardens for residents to enjoy an enhanced quality of living. The building consists of a fourteen story cluster of apartments grouped around five courtyards, on top of which are two swimming pools. With a few exceptions, each apartment looks onto both the exterior and one of the interior courtyards.

It was built in ^[1]

Name

The name of the building is inspired by B. F. Skinner's novel, Walden Two, which depicts a utopian community and itself is a reference to Henry David Thoreau's novel Walden.^[1] It is noted for its use of modules to create apartments and many public community spaces.^[2]

Structure and usage

The original project includes residences.

With a budget lower than the norm for subsidized housing at the time, Walden 7 was built in the area to the west of Barcelona. It was originally designed as one of five similar blocks.^[1] The building is composed of 18 towers which are displaced from their base, forming a curve and coming into contact with the neighbouring towers, described as a "vertical labyrinth with seven interconnecting interior courtyards."^[3] The area originally devoted to communal uses was reduced to allow an increased number of apartments.

These apartments are formed on the basis of one or more square-metre (33&#;sq&#;yd) modules,^[1] which creates, on different levels, dwellings that range from single-module studios to large multiple-module apartments. Partitions between modules may be modified, designed to shift as family structures shift.^[1]

Walden 7 was designed with small, uniform windows and no central heating.

Walden 7 ricardo bofill taller de arquitectura Barcelona Navigator. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy. Walden 7 is a residential building designed by the Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. It is situated west of Barcelona, in the nearby town of Sant Just Desvern.

Its original design included a bath in the middle of the room, which most residents removed. The original exterior façade was covered with small, red ceramic tiles backed with the wrong adhesive, creating a pedestrian hazard as the tiles fell off the building.,^[1][3] The local government began repairing the structure in the s,^[1] and a refurbishment removed most of the tiles and replaced them with red paint.^[3] The only remaining tiles exist on the small balconies.^[1] The interior is painted in blue, purple, and yellow.^[2] It is accessible by tram; the stop near the building is called Walden.^[4]

Although the building is a private apartment complex, it offers public tours.^[4]

Reception

Walden 7 became instantly iconic and made the cover of the prestigious Architectural Design magazine in July ^[5]

In an article for Architectural Digest, architectural historian Vincent Scully described Walden 7 as "a wildly expressionistic apartment house, part Gaudí, part Archigram."^[6]

In popular culture

In the film The Bilingual Lover, two characters live in Walden 7.

The falling tiles are mentioned.^[7]

See also

Gallery

Notes

External links

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