The renovation of an apartment in a historic building in central Barcelona: the Paseo San Juan Apartment interprets the city’s kaleidoscopic spirit by offering a contemporary rereading of the solidity and wealth of its tradition
Barcelona, and to be precise a royal estate on the central Passeig de Sant Joan, is the location of the Paseo San Juan Apartment, a modernist home recently renovated to a project by YLAB Arquitectos. The brief presented by the owners, an Australian couple in love with the city, was both stimulating and challenging: to restore to use an apartment in a very bad state of repair but listed under heritage regulations, conserving its structure and features of historic interest such as the Nolla mosaic flooring and the ceilings but adding all the comforts required by a contemporary lifestyle.
The design concept was inspired by the variety of colour of the mosaic flooring, different in each room. The larger rooms were painted in different shades to match the flooring and bespoke furniture was finished with a semi-satin lacquer in the same colour. Skirting boards and indoor and outdoor woodwork in a very dark brown provide a linking characteristic, running right through the apartment from end to end. This feature even enters and surrounds the smallest rooms, and combines with sophisticated artificial lighting and the use of reflective materials to transform them into fascinating, luminous interiors.
Great care was taken over the surfaces, choosing Laminam large slabs for the claddings of the kitchen and bathroom. I Naturali collection in Calacatta Michelangelo shade with Soft Touch finish was used both for the kitchen countertop and backsplash and for the washbasin and shower enclosure. Calacatta Michelangelo is the surface with distinctive fine veining ranging in colour from light grey to taupe. Its luxurious aesthetic makes it a popular choice for interior furnishing, especially for flooring and wall cladding, kitchen worktops, bathroom countertops, or sinks and washbasins. The Soft Touch finish chosen for the Paseo San Juan Apartment is an evolution of the polished finish and provides a smooth but non-reflective surface which offers an extremely soft sensation to the touch. Like all Laminam slabs, Calacatta Michelangelo delivers outstanding technical performance: its surfaces are tough and durable, quick and easy to clean and suitable for contact with foods. They repel the proliferation of fungus and mould and their resistance to damp makes them suitable for use in locations in frequent contact with water and steam, such as bathrooms and kitchens.
In the Paseo San Juan Apartment, Laminam large slabs help to define an aesthetic that strikes a fine balance between conserving existing characteristics and creating a contemporary design carefully styled down to the tiniest detail. The result is a home with a tranquil, tasteful, elegant ambience.
