Architect Spends 45 Years Transforming An Old Abandoned Cement Factory Into A Fairy Tale Home

by Steampunk Tendencies
16 comments 248,7K views

In the early 1970s, when Ricardo Bofill, then a young architect, fell in love with a cement factory abandoned since 1968 in Sant Just Desvern, a suburb of Barcelona, he was struck by love at first sight.

Driving to the western suburbs of Barcelona, the landscape in Sant Just Desvern featured blocks of concrete, enormous silos, chimneys exhaling smoke. Still active at the time, the 31,000-square-meter industrial complex was to be dismantled a month after that visit. For the architect, it was the perfect opportunity to satisfy his longing for space. Taking care of that decaying factory, he could give it a second life.

« During my first visit to the cement factory, I suddenly thought that the horrible could be turned into beautiful, in the same way that idiocy can sometimes be turned into genius. By changing the way of looking at the object, as if through a kaleidoscope, I began to imagine the different aesthetic systems included in this work: brutalism, through the hard and sculptural treatment of the material; surrealism, through the uselessness, the paradox of stairs going nowhere or pure broken volumes; abstraction, through the stripping of forms and lines in space. I’ve decided to keep this factory, to turn ugliness into a work of art and to set up my studio inside. »

The industrial settlement originally consisted of 30 monumental siloes, four kilometres spanning a web of underground tunnels, and various large rooms devoted to hosting machinery.

See how the property went from an old industrial site to a luscious and liveable space.

After three years of colossal work, the architect moved his agency called Taller de Arquitectura there, and he also decided to live there, from 1974.

You may also like

16 comments

Sandy 24 janvier 2020 - 3 h 23 min

Absolutely gorgeous!!

Reply
Kathleen Overkamp 24 janvier 2020 - 15 h 37 min

Astounding ❣️

Reply
carolyn 24 janvier 2020 - 21 h 15 min

Steam punk with a touch of Rennie Mackintosh- absolutely stunning

Reply
Cathy 3 février 2020 - 16 h 11 min

…. this is beyond imagination. This structure. His vision. I wish I could see it in real life. This is fertilizer for my soul.

Reply
Valarie Maus 25 janvier 2020 - 3 h 37 min

Genious landscape and stunning interior. Well done!

Reply
Jowanda 26 janvier 2020 - 3 h 34 min

Viewing this transition with my mouth agape for it is so stunningly beautiful. I just cannot conceive plans like this, I mean, seeing an old cement plant and envisioning a fabulous castle. This is art only few have.

Reply
Jennifer 28 janvier 2020 - 17 h 49 min

Truly the most beautiful space, thoughts expressed in raw and pictures will not do a fraction of justice .

Reply
DJ Burris 3 février 2020 - 9 h 46 min

Genius and beautiful!

Reply
Quenet Julien 3 février 2020 - 15 h 53 min

Oh god it’s absolutly awesome !!!!

Reply
Vesna 3 février 2020 - 17 h 35 min

Any chance it will be open to visit? Por favor.

Reply
H G 4 février 2020 - 11 h 38 min

Top Notch… I dream of places like this…

Reply
Aaron Prather 5 février 2020 - 23 h 53 min

Is that Edward Scissorhands’ house?

Reply
Carita Stenius-Snook 8 février 2020 - 19 h 24 min

Fantastic!

Reply
Tracey T Daelyn 9 février 2020 - 5 h 51 min

Holy Buckets (Norwegian exclamation 😉 ….. absolutely…… spectacular!!!! I’m in AWE of what has been created here………..Amazing foresight, and admiration for the fortitude to preserve and transform this property into something truly magnificent! ~ Dang, I wish I could see this with my own eyes! Thank you for preserving and amplifying the beauty of this property…….omgosh, I wish I had the means to do this preservation with sites like these….sites so full of history, perserverance and a vibrance not found in modern day ~
…..
breathless.
Thank you

Reply
bobleponge 6 avril 2020 - 15 h 00 min

I don’t think he spent 45 years since it’s pretty much raw and all the furnitures are fairly recent. Still it’s beautiful.

Reply
Ivan 28 avril 2020 - 20 h 31 min

that is very beautiful !
congratulations to the owner

Reply

Leave a Comment

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More