Villa Luisa has been redesigned to convert a historic building into a functional and attractive house of the XXI century.

The house is located in the Horta-Guinardó neighborhood, an upper area of Barcelona very well connected to the city center, but with a more open urban fabric, so it gives the feeling of being far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The steep slope of the site, and the location of the inherited house, provides a perfect orientation and offers distant views of the Mediterranean.

For the extension required by the functional program, we took advantage of the unevenness of the topography, creating an intermediate platform where the missing elements are fitted: swimming pool and solarium, under which the garage is located.

The use of the materials chosen for the extension: concrete walls and wooden deck, allows our intervention to stand out from the original house, without camouflaging the new with the old, but in a harmonious dialogue.

In the reformulation of the interior space, the change of position of one of the flights of stairs, allows us to enhance the unification of uses, diluting old limits, gaining in interior cross visuals and capturing the natural light from the south that reaches the north facade.

A new flight of stairs leading to the first floor internally connects the “elevated” house with a versatile space that opens onto the garden.

The dialogue between this dignified building from the beginning of the last century and our 21st century intervention gives Villa Luisa attractive conditions for a modern way of life: VL is unartful, open, luminous, respectful, and with all this we highlight many of the qualities of its owners without compromising the historical and landscape character of the site.