The neighbourhood of Sant Andreu de Palomar, in the heart of the Sant Andreu district in the north of Barcelona, still retains the urban structure of its agricultural origins: small, two-storey buildings laid out following the agricultural plots and paths. Carrer d’Agustí i Milà and Carrer de Grau are still home to some of these structures. The party wall is located in a small square formed by the isolated widening of Carrer d’Agustí i Milà where it intersects with Carrer de Grau, the result of building two rows of new residential buildings on the latter street. This urban square is jarring, as it does not match the scale of the nearby urban environment. The proposal is expected to address these contrasts.

One of the sides of the new square is the party wall included in this competition, and just opposite it is another building that is to be redeveloped. The unfinished appearance of the square, combined with the fact that the ground floors of the buildings are residential, results in an overlooked and underused leisure space.

The challenge for this site is to ensure that by turning this party wall into a façade, harnessing its potential and meeting the requirements set out, what is now a widening of the street can be transformed into a small square with its own identity.