Placeta de Charlot

Winners

First prize

Safareig

Diego Costanzo, Agustina Coulleri

Argentina

This proposal is inspired by the old laundries in Nou Barris, to create a facade where the main element is the rope, like those used to hang clothes in these everyday spaces. The jury believes that the proposal adapts very well to the context, both with the colours and the materials chosen, and creates several layers in the building. A ceramic base to provide urban continuity, a metal structure containing the balconies and ropes and a surface of solar panels on top. The architectural solution presented is understandable and works, even without the foliage on the balconies.

Second prize

Ceramic Fold

Rodrigo Ballina Benites, Luciano Ariel Del Valle, Agustina Ronconi, Lucía Russo Herrera

Argentina

The jury appreciates the proposal presented for this blind wall, which, exceptionally, does not aim to give more square metres to the homes, but rather improve their quality by offering light, ventilation and privacy through a new ventilated facade. An answer that fully adapts to the context of the neighbourhood.

Third prize

sous les pavés, la plage!

Mariano Jaime Moreno, Javier Ortega

Argentina

The openings on the ground floor that are proposed in the new facade are the reason why the jury awarded the third prize to this idea, since they allow the square to be activated and its quality improved.

Collaborators

Marcos Van Thillo, Dylan Vazquez, Andrés Santacreu, Juan Quiroga

Information of the blind wall

District

Nou Barris

Pare Rodés St. 27

Party wall area	175m² (aprox.)
Estimated construction cost	900€/m²

The Verdun neighbourhood, located in the Nou Barris district in the north of the city, is a working-class residential area bounded by Parc de la Guineueta, Via Júlia and Ronda de Dalt. One of the first settlements in the neighbourhood was the Barriada de Charlot, built at the beginning of the 20th century on the site of the current Placeta de Charlot. Those first workers’ dwellings were replaced in the 1960s and 1970s by the current residential buildings, giving rise to the present-day neighbourhood. The square is named after a colourful local, Carmelo Tusquellas, one of the first developers of the initial residential buildings in the area, founder of a neighbourhood association, and also famous for his circus performances in which he imitated Charlie Chaplin’s popular Tramp (known as Charlot in Catalan and Spanish) character.

Placeta de Charlot is located at the intersection of Carrer de Pare Rodés and Carrer de la Font d’en Canyelles. It is a neighbourhood square, somewhat barren and uninviting due to the lack of activity on the ground floor of the buildings. The party wall is a central feature of the square, facing south-southwest and receiving good sunlight. This blind wall, although decorated with a simple composition of horizontal lines, does not create a pleasant atmosphere in the square, which remains a neglected space in need of improvement. The buildings that make up the square do nothing to give it a distinctive personality or identity, due to their anonymous architecture, their state of disrepair and the changes they have undergone.

Turning the party wall into a façade and tapping into its potential should help to transform Placeta de Charlot into a place where locals can gather and spend time together, as well as improve the conditions of the building in which it is located and meet the requirements set out.

Operational scope: The project includes the party wall of the building at Carrer de Pare Rodés 27.

BUILDING TYPOLOGY

Use	Residential and commercial on the ground floor
Year built	1962
Structural system	Load-bearing ceramic brick walls. Reinforced concrete joists. Double-layer exterior wall: solid brick on the inside and plastered brick on the outside.

Project requirements

C1 New façade composition

C2 Construction and thermal performance renovation

S1 Habitability improvements in the dwellings, opening of new windows (including French doors or windows)

S3 Integration of photovoltaic energy production