In Barcelona, Casa Batlló opens a new chapter in its history with the recovery and opening of the Third Floor, the last original residence in the building preserved according to the design of Antoni Gaudí. Ph. Claudia Mauriño
After more than a century spent as a living space for the direct descendants of the Batlló family, this floor is now returned to the public with a new purpose: to become a place for private gatherings, celebrations and exclusive experiences, without losing its domestic essence. The opening marks a singular moment in the life of the modernist house, because unlike the other levels, the Third Floor has survived with an exceptional degree of authenticity.
A living residence, beyond the museum
Casa Batlló’s intention is not to turn this space into a room to be merely observed, but to preserve its residential character while projecting it into the present. The layout originally designed by Gaudí now hosts private meetings, presentations, celebrations and gastronomic experiences, in an intimate setting that encourages a close relationship with the architecture. The Third Floor can be experienced independently or as an extension of the cultural visit, taking shape as a series of private rooms set apart from the museum route and designed to ensure flexibility and privacy.
This new function responds to a growing demand, in Barcelona and internationally, for authentic and historically rich spaces for exclusive events. Yet the most interesting shift lies elsewhere: heritage is not frozen, but brought back into use. The house becomes inhabited once again, albeit in a different way, confirming the possibility of thinking of a monument as a living space.
A three-year restoration with an archaeological approach
The reopening of the floor was made possible by a three-year restoration process carried out with a distinctly archaeological approach. By removing the many layers added throughout the twentieth century, the original 1906 architecture emerged, surprisingly intact beneath later alterations. The work made it possible to recover joinery, stucco, floors and construction systems conceived by Gaudí, restoring or faithfully reproducing them through artisanal techniques.
Among the most significant discoveries are stuccoes with floral motifs hidden for more than a century, the original undulating ceilings, and even reused doors adapted by Gaudí. Particularly noteworthy is the discovery of a previously unknown handle, a detail that further expands our understanding of Gaudí’s language and of his meticulous attention to every architectural element.
Paola Navone inhabits Gaudí without overriding him
On top of this restored heritage layer, Paola Navone – Otto Studio introduces a second design level that does not seek to impose itself, but rather to inhabit the space through a contemporary domestic logic. The idea behind the intervention is simple and precise: to imagine this residence as if it were her own home in Barcelona, activating a more intimate, everyday and natural relationship with Gaudí’s architecture.
Paola Navone:
“At first, I felt that intervening in Casa Batlló was almost impossible. Everything changed when I stopped thinking about designing over Gaudí and started imagining that this residence was my own home in Barcelona. From that moment, the project became a natural reappropriation of the space—a way of inhabiting it today, combining objects, colors, and materials that dialogue with what already exists without imposing themselves. More than interior design, it is a way of bringing the house back to life.”
Ph. Claudia Mauriño
The proposal adopts an openly eclectic approach, based on mixing, contrast and layering. Without altering the essential elements of the historic structure, Navone combines furniture, objects and crafted pieces from different contexts, some specially reinterpreted for the project. Colour, materiality and attention to detail shape each room as a small story within a broader coherent narrative. The result preserves the residence’s domestic essence while opening it to new forms of use and experience.
A new way of inhabiting heritage
With this opening, Casa Batlló reaffirms its condition as a living monument. The recovery of its last original residence does more than preserve a fundamental part of the building’s history: it projects it into the future, allowing new audiences to inhabit it more closely and assign new meanings to it. In this operation, heritage is not treated as a relic, but as an active material capable of welcoming new forms of relationship.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005, Casa Batlló continues to reinterpret Gaudí’s legacy through a contemporary vision that combines conservation, research, cultural use and museographic innovation. The Third Floor, kept outside public access for more than a century, now returns as a threshold between past and present: not just a rediscovered room, but a new possibility to inhabit Gaudí’s work from within.
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