ARIBAU195 | scob arquitectura y paysaje

The project provides an opportunity to restore continuity to the urban fabric through the integration of the street façade and the creation of a large inner-block garden.

A WORKPLACE DESIGNED FOR FLEXIBILITY

The Aribau195 office building contributes to updating the city’s real estate stock through a large-scale rehabilitation oriented towards Core & Shell. 

The architecture and landscape project is guided by environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. Its strategy focuses on minimizing the building’s carbon footprint while providing biodiverse green spaces aligned with the client’s objectives. Thanks to the sustainability measures implemented, and the strong emphasis on user well-being, environmental impact and energy efficiency, the project has achieved LEED Platinum and WELL Gold certifications.

A key feature of the project is its balanced approach, combining a global modernization of the building—respecting Barcelona’s architectural heritage—with the creation of 1,200 m² of open-plan space per floor, each with generous landscaped outdoor areas. 

The main entrance features a spacious double-height lobby. On the left side, a ceramic composition in green tones sets the chromatic palette that defines the entire project, generating textures that change with the light throughout the day.

The interior layout centralizes fixed elements and technical installations to deliver flexible, open, naturally lit and cross-ventilated workspaces. The renovation highlights the original structure, leaving the recoverable coffered slab exposed as a central feature, with all installations fully integrated. This solution merges the existing structure with new systems, ensuring adequate floor heights for office use and extending the building’s lifespan.

The parking area—naturally lit and ventilated and offering ample space for bicycles and scooters—has been completely remodeled using the same palette of green tones.

The selection of materials minimizes the building’s life-cycle carbon footprint while offering warmth, comfort and a sense of domesticity for users.

EMPATHY WITH THE CONTEXT: THE BARCELONA EIXAMPLE

The proposal for Aribau195, built upon the relationship between architecture and landscape, renews a representative office building while recovering the identity and spirit of the Cerdà Plan (1859)—a symbol of Barcelona’s egalitarian urban model. The adaptation to the architectural context of the neighborhood is reflected both in the façade and in the garden of the interior courtyard. 

The project highlights the potential of Eixample blocks and their inner courtyards as catalysts for the city’s re‑naturalization. It is estimated that the district contains 45 inner courtyards partially recovered by the Barcelona City Council, out of a total of 520. 

FAÇADE AND ROOFTOPS

The project renovates and extends a pre-existing office building and its service courtyard, reusing more than 80% of the original structure to ensure volumetric, compositional and material integration within its Eixample context.

The main façade on Aribau Street prioritizes compositional and chromatic integration. A high-density architectural precast concrete piece is designed ad hoc, emulating Montjuïc stone—no longer available—and bringing order, rhythm and contextual harmony. The building thus recovers the tradition of stone façades with wooden windows typical of the Eixample. 

The inner façade facing the courtyard strengthens the relationship between the offices and the garden. It does so through large continuous balconies made of prefabricated metal modules assembled on site, which incorporate climbing plants that provide shade from the southwest sun and improve the building’s passive energy performance.

The project includes 1.150 m² of green roofs, accompanied by 460 m² of vertical vegetation on the rear façade. Together, these contribute to increased urban biodiversity, improved air quality through CO₂ absorption, humidity regulation and the reduction of the heat-island effect, in addition to offering excellent thermal insulation.

Both façades and roofs have been designed with special attention to bioclimatic performance and landscape integration.

INTERIOR GARDEN: HEALTHY HABITATS

The intervention revitalizes the inner courtyard through strategies that support urban re‑naturalization, biodiversity and ecological improvement for the benefit of residents and users.

Vegetation has been incorporated across terraces and the 1.000 m² courtyard. These new outdoor areas, conceived for work or leisure, include immersive green zones with more than 5,000 plants and 16 trees, as well as a small garden available to tenants.

Native and adapted low-water species were selected, and the irrigation system operates with reclaimed greywater, following sustainability criteria. Climatic comfort and solar control are improved through climbing plants and deciduous trees that provide shade in summer and allow sunlight in winter. 

Creating outdoor spaces for resting, eating, walking or exercising during the workday was also a priority, turning the courtyard into a fresher, more natural and welcoming environment for users, neighbors and the city at large.

Photography: Adrià Goula