Mandatory requirement

The contestants must resolve the urban discontinuity implied by the existence of the consolidated blind wall and transform it into a new façade that confronts the public space, both from a compositional and constructive point of view. The diversity of locations chosen and types of space must serve for the contestants with their proposals to generate a reflection on the different solutions and ways to face this challenge.

Adequacy within the environment, the relationship with the public space, with the façades of the building itself and those around it, are the issues that the proposal must address

Mandatory requeriment

The proposal for a new façade must include its constructive improvement and its thermal conditions, since these walls were originally designed to be covered with another building and have shortcomings both in their tightness and in their thermal insulation. This renovation must be faced with energy rehabilitation parameters, which consider concepts such as the life cycle of materials, the low carbon footprint and its openness to the use of innovative materials.

Mandatory requirement

A permanent intervention is proposed. Constructive solutions that do not require very
high maintenance and which are sustainable over time must be considered.

Optional requirement

The city of Barcelona is home to a diversity of protected animal species, especially certain species of birds and bats. The blind walls are usually spaces where these species nest in existing cavities in the upper parts. In some of the locations, the presence of nests has been detected, in situations where this is the case, it is specified in the technical sheets. In the development process of the winning proposals, the integration of nesting spaces in the proposal will be defined, not being a mandatory requirement during the ideas competition phase.

This is an opportunity for the inhabitants of the dwellings to improve the lighting and ventilation of their homes. Likewise, breaking the opaque and blind nature of the wall is fundamental to improving the relationship between public and private space and generating quality urban spaces.
It is necessary that the proposals consider the opening of new windows and/or balconies in the partitions where this requirement is possible. It is also necessary that the openings are consistent and constructively viable considering the type of wall.

The proposals must include a system of openings and a façade composition with sufficient flexibility to admit changes in the situation of the windows and even their occasional removal without the general idea being affected. It must be considered that in case of implementation the winning proposals will have to be confronted with the requirements of the residents of the dwellings, with the involvement of the Author(s) of
the winning proposal. Annexes include the original distribution floor plans of the buildings to design the distribution of windows. The interior distributions of the floors may have had variations over time.

In locations where the blind wall is next to an open patio, and in the event that the proposal leaves it visible from the public space, it must be considered that the façades that make up the patio also have deficiencies in thermal insulation capacity, which it is necessary to solve following the blind wall criterion. It is also necessary to solve the integration of the façades of the open courtyards, the meeting between them and the blind wall, as well as the possibility of integrating elements that allow a visual filter to be generated.

Due to their orientation, the façades with this requirement will integrate electric energy generation strategies through solar captures in the vertical plane. The proposals must reflect on the concept of an active or generating façade and provide innovative solutions in the architectural integration of new photovoltaic energy technologies in the general composition of the median.

It is considered that the minimum area dedicated to production must be at least 15% of the blind wall.

Proposals that combine the integration of vertical gardening and photovoltaic energy production must allocate a minimum area of 25% of the blind wall’s surface between the two.

One of the strategies of the city of Barcelona is to reduce the impact of climate change by increasing the surfaces of vegetation to reduce the heat island effect.

The proposal will incorporate strategies for integrating vegetation in the vertical plane. Either with vertical gardening systems with substrate, with climbing plants planted at their base or with other systems that the contestants propose. The vegetation will be maintained by the municipality, so it must be able to be maintained from the outside. It is considered that the minimum area intended for the integration of vegetation must be at least 15% of the median.

Proposals that combine the integration of vertical gardening and photovoltaic energy production must allocate a minimum area of 25% of the surface of the blind wall between the two.

Proposals cannot contemplate an extension of the buildability of the property subject to competition. Balconies can always be proposed when they are open on two of the façades.
 

The proposals cannot contemplate the occupation of public space
for the support of the support structures of private elements (balconies) beyond the plane of the partition. It is possible to contemplate proposals for gardening, furniture or other elements that modify the nearby public space, as well as greenery support elements. The accessibility of the resulting public space must be guaranteed.

If elements are proposed that protrude from the plane of the partition, as a rule the maximum flight of these will be 1 m with respect to the partition and they will be open. These elements cannot have support structures that rest on a public space.