Social Housing in Barcelona’s Sant Martí District
Architectural and Urban Proposals to Reduce the Housing Deficit and Improve the Quality of Life in the Catalan Capital
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes, © José Hevia
The Urban Renewal of the Sant Martí District
The district of Sant Martí, especially the Poblenou sector, is currently one of the most booming in the city of Barcelona due to the amazing transformation it has undergone in the last two decades. This change is largely due to the 22@ project, which intends to turn what was once a decaying industrial zone into an innovation district. This premise may lead us to think of a labor-oriented neighborhood, full of high-tech buildings and offices. But following the premises of contemporary urbanism, the 22@ aims to be much more than that. It is a complex program that indeed encourages the arrival of technological business headquarters, but also the comprehensive renovation of the sector, with an increase in green and pedestrian areas, the preservation of industrial heritage, an increase in public services and the expansion of the housing offer, all framed within a sustainable approach.
La Balma Collective Housing by Lacol and La Boqueria, © Milena Villalba
In Guiding Architects, we have previously referred to the relevance of subsidized housing in the contemporary and metropolitan context. Our blog on social housing in Barcelona concluded with the announcement of a major project that was being launched and is about to be completed: the Illa Glòries; one of the most ambitious in recent decades for its size and impact.
This text will focus specifically on the Sant Martí district, highlighting the importance of this typology in the renovation process of this sector of the city of which we have previously mentioned some outstanding projects such as the building on Carrer Tànger (2018) by Jaime Coll and Judith Leclerc.
La Balma Collective Housing by Lacol and La Boqueria, © Milena Villalba
The La Balma Building by the Lacol Collective and La Boqueria
In the previous blog on social housing, we discussed cooperative housing, a management model that has been gaining ground in recent years. Beyond the social and economic implications, this approach has also yielded remarkable results in terms of design, especially when undertaken by the Lacol Collective. The La Balma building (2021), for example, designed by Lacol in collaboration with La Boqueria and located in the heart of the 22@, was mentioned in the blog on the new wooden architecture in Barcelona.
This is one of many recent projects in which cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures play a central role; a technology that, among other virtues, significantly reduces the environmental impact of the construction process. But the interest of La Balma is not limited to the construction system. It is also innovative for its distribution, which varies on each floor, following criteria such as flexibility in the design of the apartments, reduction of energy consumption and climatic comfort.
La Balma Collective Housing by Lacol and La Boqueria
The volume consists of a regular prism with three fronts, and its envelope, covered with corrugated sheet metal except on the ground floor, is profusely and irregularly perforated to reveal the alternating presence of terraces, stairways, galleries and other communal spaces. The circulations, also intended as spaces for socializing, are in tune with the spirit of the cooperative and recall those of the Casa Bloc (1933-39), the pioneering social housing project by Josep Lluís Sert, Joan Baptista Subirana and Josep Torres Clavé.
La Balma Collective Housing by Lacol and La Boqueria, © Milena Villalba
BAAS Arquitectura: 68 Social Housing Units in 22@
The relevance of the 68 Social Housing Units (2019) designed by BAAS Arquitectura, a team led by Jordi Badia, goes beyond the limits of the building itself. The project is located in a block that maintains the shape and dimensions of Cerdà’s Eixample project, but with a modified volumetric configuration. The four buildings aligned with the perimeter streets are interrupted before reaching the chamfer, leaving the corners open.
68 Social Housing Units in 22@ by BAAS Arquitectura, © Adriá Goula
In the center of the block is the BAAS project flanked by two green areas designed as part of the Sustainable Urban Drainage System. A few meters away is a Superblock on one side and a Green Axis on the other, two urban strategies explained in our blog about Superblocks in Barcelona. The building is therefore immersed in the integral process of transformation and renaturalization of the sector.
Like other buildings in the area, it has a stepped oblong volume, with a seven-story section and a twelve-story section, with chamfered corners and slight variations in its vertical development. The elegant aesthetics of the building are notable for the use of dark-colored exposed brick and horizontal windows, an unusual element in recent residential buildings in Barcelona chosen here to improve the views and the luminosity of the dwellings.
68 Social Housing Units in 22@ by BAAS Arquitectura, © Adriá Goula
The design of the facades can refer us to works by great masters of the twentieth century and especially Alvar Aalto, like the Polytechnic University of Helsinki (1949-74) or the Seinäjoki City Hall (1962). However, it is interesting to note that in Barcelona itself we can detect precedents of a similar typology. Without going very far, the Barceloneta building by José Antonio Coderch resonates in the folds of the volume, and the prominence of exposed brick is reminiscent of other apartment buildings by the same architect. Language affinities are also apparent with the building on the corner of the streets Bach and Pérez-Cabrero (1965), by Ricardo Bofill’s Taller de Arquitectura.
The irregular glazed prisms on the ground floor invite visitors to cross beneath the building and enter the lobbies. They generate an ideal permeability to link the structure with the adjoining gardens, and they temper the massiveness of the building. The interior is organized by dividing the block into two towers, corresponding to the two heights, with segregated circulation systems. However, a central longitudinal axis articulates the entire building, grouping the server spaces, except for the staircases, whose presence goes unnoticed in the facades.
68 Social Housing Units in 22@ by BAAS Arquitectura, © Adriá Goula
The Social Atrium Building by Peris+Toral Arquitectes
Among the outstanding projects in Sant Martí is the Social Atrium (2022) located on Lluís Borrassà street, where the district borders Sant Adriá de Besòs and designed by the office of Marta Peris and José Toral. We could say that this team has specialized in social housing, noting its valuable contributions to the typology always based on their commitment to sustainability and innovation. Examples of this are the building in Cornellà commented in our blog on Social Housing in Barcelona or a remarkable precedent in 22@: a housing complex for older adults (2017), realized in collaboration with Esteve Bonell and Josep Maria Gil.
The Social Atrium, very different from other Peris+Toral buildings, demonstrates the diversity of proposals that can be achieved within the field of social housing and also the versatility of this team of architects.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes, © José Hevia
The free-standing and staggered volume presents two zones with a marked difference in height, following a common scheme in the 22@ buildings. The four facades are treated in a similar way, highlighting the use of exposed brick, both for the blind walls and for the striking lattices. The windows and pierced enclosures are distributed in an irregular pattern, providing the building with a dynamic quality. On the ground floor, on the other hand, the latticework is almost continuous, only interrupted to mark the entrances to the public facilities and the lobby. The aesthetic result is sober but with a playful nuance and connects with a long tradition of creative use of brick in Catalonia that goes back to Catalan Art Nouveau, through the early work of Bofill and has maintained its validity in recent projects such as the Camp del Ferro Sports Center (2020) by AIA + Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes + Gustau Gili Galfetti.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes
The building’s vertical circulations are optimized by concentrating on the sector with more levels. Horizontal circulation is limited to a small hallway on the upper floors and extends along the longitudinal axis of the building on the lower levels. Flanking this access corridor is a four-level dislocated courtyard that occupies a limited floor area but is sufficient to optimize cross ventilation of the apartments. The zenithal lighting and the corridors partially taking the form of curved bridges are key to achieving the sense of openness and spatial richness that turns this courtyard into the heart of the building.
The load-bearing elements are placed in the party walls between apartments as well as the bathrooms and kitchens. The rest of the floor is left free, and this flexibility allows for different configurations according to the preferences of the users. To complete the program, each floor includes a small terrace, an essential element when it comes to improving the quality of life of the inhabitants.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes
The Endless Debate on Affordable Housing
The recent high-profile case of the Orsola House in the Eixample has put the housing problem in Barcelona in the eye of the hurricane, even more emphatically than it has been over the latest years. Although some opinions maintain that subsidized housing is not the solution to the problem, almost no one questions its importance. In any case, both experts and public opinion are demanding additional measures or far-reaching changes in legislation, and in most cases to strengthen housing policy at all government levels in order to increase the offer.
There is consensus that social housing is more necessary than ever, and we welcome that architecture professionals are striving to ensure high quality and creativity parameters in their designs, without implying excessive costs in their construction.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes, © José Hevia
In this context, the Sant Martí district is a paradigmatic example of the urban planning approaches promoted in Barcelona and their constant updating. In the specific case of the 22@, for example, a participatory deliberation process recently concluded with an improved roadmap and a modification of the General Metropolitan Plan – that reinforces objectives such as diversifying and improving the supply of subsidized housing, but also moving towards a more humane, greener and more sustainable city.
As always, we invite you to visit the district of Sant Martí in Barcelona to witness the virtues of this ongoing transformation process that surely still holds pleasant surprises for us.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes, © José Hevia
Text: Pedro Capriata
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A+T Architecture Publishers (2022). a+t 56: Generosity. Housing Design Strategies. – The Indeterminacy of the Floor Plan.
Arquitectura Viva (2019). Vivienda y alojamientos temporales, Barcelona. AV Monografías, Nº 213 -214. España 2019.
https://arquitecturaviva.com/obras/vivienda-y-alojamientos-temporales-en-barcelona
Beliaeva, L. (2025). Should public money be spent on buying private property? Catalan News.
https://www.catalannews.com/in-depth/item/should-public-money-be-spent-on-buying-private-property
Broto, C. (2014). Social Housing. Architecture and Design. UNKNO.
Capriata, P. (2023). New Social Housing in Barcelona, a Benchmark in Innovation and Sustainability. Guiding Architects Barcelona.
https://www.gabarcelona.com/blog/new-social-housing-barcelona/
Capriata, P. (2023). New Wooden Architecture in Barcelona. Guiding Architects Barcelona.
https://www.gabarcelona.com/blog/new-wooden-architecture-barcelona/
Centre Obert d’Arquitectura (s.f.) ArquitecturaCatalana.Cat.
https://www.arquitecturacatalana.cat/en
Figuerola C., Bilbao I. (2023). Gestar-habitar: Estratègies per a l’habitatge social a Barcelona. Ajuntament de Barcelona.
Forner, G. (2022). Barcelona construye más vivienda pública que la Generalitat y la Comunidad de Madrid juntas. El Salto.
https://www.elsaltodiario.com/barcelona/construye-mas-vivienda-publica-madrid-generalitat-juntas
Frampton, K. (1992). Modern Architecture. A Critical History. Thames and Hudson.
La Gioia, A. (2020). BAAS Arquitectura, bloque de viviendas en el 22@. Spanish-Architects.
https://www.spanish-architects.com/es/architecture-news/obra-construida/baas-arquitectura-bloque-de-viviendas-en-el-22
Lacol (s.f.). La Balma habitatge cooperatiu.
https://www.lacol.coop/projectes/la-balma/
On Diseño (2022). 68 viviendas VPO en el 22@.
https://www.ondiseno.com/proyecto.php?id=2991
Peris+Toral Arquitectes (s.f.) Social Atrium – 54 Social housing in Barcelona, Barcelona (2022).
https://peristoral.com/proyectos/social-atrium-54-social-housing-barcelona
Vicente, S. (2022). Barcelona acuerda un crédito público de 140 millones para que fundaciones y cooperativas construyan vivienda social. elDiario.es
https://www.eldiario.es/catalunya/barcelona-acuerda-ico-icf-credito-140-millones-fundaciones-cooperativas-construyan-vivienda-publica_1_9207041.html
Top Ten Design Restaurants in BarcelonaSocial Housing in Barcelona’s Sant Martí District
Architectural and Urban Proposals to Reduce the Housing Deficit and Improve the Quality of Life in the Catalan Capital
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes, © José Hevia
The Urban Renewal of the Sant Martí District
The district of Sant Martí, especially the Poblenou sector, is currently one of the most booming in the city of Barcelona due to the amazing transformation it has undergone in the last two decades. This change is largely due to the 22@ project, which intends to turn what was once a decaying industrial zone into an innovation district. This premise may lead us to think of a labor-oriented neighborhood, full of high-tech buildings and offices. But following the premises of contemporary urbanism, the 22@ aims to be much more than that. It is a complex program that indeed encourages the arrival of technological business headquarters, but also the comprehensive renovation of the sector, with an increase in green and pedestrian areas, the preservation of industrial heritage, an increase in public services and the expansion of the housing offer, all framed within a sustainable approach.
La Balma Collective Housing by Lacol and La Boqueria, © Milena Villalba
In Guiding Architects, we have previously referred to the relevance of subsidized housing in the contemporary and metropolitan context. Our blog on social housing in Barcelona concluded with the announcement of a major project that was being launched and is about to be completed: the Illa Glòries; one of the most ambitious in recent decades for its size and impact.
This text will focus specifically on the Sant Martí district, highlighting the importance of this typology in the renovation process of this sector of the city of which we have previously mentioned some outstanding projects such as the building on Carrer Tànger (2018) by Jaime Coll and Judith Leclerc.
La Balma Collective Housing by Lacol and La Boqueria, © Milena Villalba
The La Balma Building by the Lacol Collective and La Boqueria
In the previous blog on social housing, we discussed cooperative housing, a management model that has been gaining ground in recent years. Beyond the social and economic implications, this approach has also yielded remarkable results in terms of design, especially when undertaken by the Lacol Collective. The La Balma building (2021), for example, designed by Lacol in collaboration with La Boqueria and located in the heart of the 22@, was mentioned in the blog on the new wooden architecture in Barcelona.
This is one of many recent projects in which cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures play a central role; a technology that, among other virtues, significantly reduces the environmental impact of the construction process. But the interest of La Balma is not limited to the construction system. It is also innovative for its distribution, which varies on each floor, following criteria such as flexibility in the design of the apartments, reduction of energy consumption and climatic comfort.
La Balma Collective Housing by Lacol and La Boqueria
The volume consists of a regular prism with three fronts, and its envelope, covered with corrugated sheet metal except on the ground floor, is profusely and irregularly perforated to reveal the alternating presence of terraces, stairways, galleries and other communal spaces. The circulations, also intended as spaces for socializing, are in tune with the spirit of the cooperative and recall those of the Casa Bloc (1933-39), the pioneering social housing project by Josep Lluís Sert, Joan Baptista Subirana and Josep Torres Clavé.
La Balma Collective Housing by Lacol and La Boqueria, © Milena Villalba
BAAS Arquitectura: 68 Social Housing Units in 22@
The relevance of the 68 Social Housing Units (2019) designed by BAAS Arquitectura, a team led by Jordi Badia, goes beyond the limits of the building itself. The project is located in a block that maintains the shape and dimensions of Cerdà’s Eixample project, but with a modified volumetric configuration. The four buildings aligned with the perimeter streets are interrupted before reaching the chamfer, leaving the corners open.
68 Social Housing Units in 22@ by BAAS Arquitectura, © Adriá Goula
In the center of the block is the BAAS project flanked by two green areas designed as part of the Sustainable Urban Drainage System. A few meters away is a Superblock on one side and a Green Axis on the other, two urban strategies explained in our blog about Superblocks in Barcelona. The building is therefore immersed in the integral process of transformation and renaturalization of the sector.
Like other buildings in the area, it has a stepped oblong volume, with a seven-story section and a twelve-story section, with chamfered corners and slight variations in its vertical development. The elegant aesthetics of the building are notable for the use of dark-colored exposed brick and horizontal windows, an unusual element in recent residential buildings in Barcelona chosen here to improve the views and the luminosity of the dwellings.
68 Social Housing Units in 22@ by BAAS Arquitectura, © Adriá Goula
The design of the facades can refer us to works by great masters of the twentieth century and especially Alvar Aalto, like the Polytechnic University of Helsinki (1949-74) or the Seinäjoki City Hall (1962). However, it is interesting to note that in Barcelona itself we can detect precedents of a similar typology. Without going very far, the Barceloneta building by José Antonio Coderch resonates in the folds of the volume, and the prominence of exposed brick is reminiscent of other apartment buildings by the same architect. Language affinities are also apparent with the building on the corner of the streets Bach and Pérez-Cabrero (1965), by Ricardo Bofill’s Taller de Arquitectura.
The irregular glazed prisms on the ground floor invite visitors to cross beneath the building and enter the lobbies. They generate an ideal permeability to link the structure with the adjoining gardens, and they temper the massiveness of the building. The interior is organized by dividing the block into two towers, corresponding to the two heights, with segregated circulation systems. However, a central longitudinal axis articulates the entire building, grouping the server spaces, except for the staircases, whose presence goes unnoticed in the facades.
68 Social Housing Units in 22@ by BAAS Arquitectura, © Adriá Goula
The Social Atrium Building by Peris+Toral Arquitectes
Among the outstanding projects in Sant Martí is the Social Atrium (2022) located on Lluís Borrassà street, where the district borders Sant Adriá de Besòs and designed by the office of Marta Peris and José Toral. We could say that this team has specialized in social housing, noting its valuable contributions to the typology always based on their commitment to sustainability and innovation. Examples of this are the building in Cornellà commented in our blog on Social Housing in Barcelona or a remarkable precedent in 22@: a housing complex for older adults (2017), realized in collaboration with Esteve Bonell and Josep Maria Gil.
The Social Atrium, very different from other Peris+Toral buildings, demonstrates the diversity of proposals that can be achieved within the field of social housing and also the versatility of this team of architects.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes, © José Hevia
The free-standing and staggered volume presents two zones with a marked difference in height, following a common scheme in the 22@ buildings. The four facades are treated in a similar way, highlighting the use of exposed brick, both for the blind walls and for the striking lattices. The windows and pierced enclosures are distributed in an irregular pattern, providing the building with a dynamic quality. On the ground floor, on the other hand, the latticework is almost continuous, only interrupted to mark the entrances to the public facilities and the lobby. The aesthetic result is sober but with a playful nuance and connects with a long tradition of creative use of brick in Catalonia that goes back to Catalan Art Nouveau, through the early work of Bofill and has maintained its validity in recent projects such as the Camp del Ferro Sports Center (2020) by AIA + Barceló Balanzó Arquitectes + Gustau Gili Galfetti.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes
The building’s vertical circulations are optimized by concentrating on the sector with more levels. Horizontal circulation is limited to a small hallway on the upper floors and extends along the longitudinal axis of the building on the lower levels. Flanking this access corridor is a four-level dislocated courtyard that occupies a limited floor area but is sufficient to optimize cross ventilation of the apartments. The zenithal lighting and the corridors partially taking the form of curved bridges are key to achieving the sense of openness and spatial richness that turns this courtyard into the heart of the building.
The load-bearing elements are placed in the party walls between apartments as well as the bathrooms and kitchens. The rest of the floor is left free, and this flexibility allows for different configurations according to the preferences of the users. To complete the program, each floor includes a small terrace, an essential element when it comes to improving the quality of life of the inhabitants.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes
The Endless Debate on Affordable Housing
The recent high-profile case of the Orsola House in the Eixample has put the housing problem in Barcelona in the eye of the hurricane, even more emphatically than it has been over the latest years. Although some opinions maintain that subsidized housing is not the solution to the problem, almost no one questions its importance. In any case, both experts and public opinion are demanding additional measures or far-reaching changes in legislation, and in most cases to strengthen housing policy at all government levels in order to increase the offer.
There is consensus that social housing is more necessary than ever, and we welcome that architecture professionals are striving to ensure high quality and creativity parameters in their designs, without implying excessive costs in their construction.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes, © José Hevia
In this context, the Sant Martí district is a paradigmatic example of the urban planning approaches promoted in Barcelona and their constant updating. In the specific case of the 22@, for example, a participatory deliberation process recently concluded with an improved roadmap and a modification of the General Metropolitan Plan – that reinforces objectives such as diversifying and improving the supply of subsidized housing, but also moving towards a more humane, greener and more sustainable city.
As always, we invite you to visit the district of Sant Martí in Barcelona to witness the virtues of this ongoing transformation process that surely still holds pleasant surprises for us.
Social Atrium by Peris+Toral Arquitectes, © José Hevia
Text: Pedro Capriata
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A+T Architecture Publishers (2022). a+t 56: Generosity. Housing Design Strategies. – The Indeterminacy of the Floor Plan.
Arquitectura Viva (2019). Vivienda y alojamientos temporales, Barcelona. AV Monografías, Nº 213 -214. España 2019.
https://arquitecturaviva.com/obras/vivienda-y-alojamientos-temporales-en-barcelona
Beliaeva, L. (2025). Should public money be spent on buying private property? Catalan News.
https://www.catalannews.com/in-depth/item/should-public-money-be-spent-on-buying-private-property
Broto, C. (2014). Social Housing. Architecture and Design. UNKNO.
Capriata, P. (2023). New Social Housing in Barcelona, a Benchmark in Innovation and Sustainability. Guiding Architects Barcelona.
https://www.gabarcelona.com/blog/new-social-housing-barcelona/
Capriata, P. (2023). New Wooden Architecture in Barcelona. Guiding Architects Barcelona.
https://www.gabarcelona.com/blog/new-wooden-architecture-barcelona/
Centre Obert d’Arquitectura (s.f.) ArquitecturaCatalana.Cat.
https://www.arquitecturacatalana.cat/en
Figuerola C., Bilbao I. (2023). Gestar-habitar: Estratègies per a l’habitatge social a Barcelona. Ajuntament de Barcelona.
Forner, G. (2022). Barcelona construye más vivienda pública que la Generalitat y la Comunidad de Madrid juntas. El Salto.
https://www.elsaltodiario.com/barcelona/construye-mas-vivienda-publica-madrid-generalitat-juntas
Frampton, K. (1992). Modern Architecture. A Critical History. Thames and Hudson.
La Gioia, A. (2020). BAAS Arquitectura, bloque de viviendas en el 22@. Spanish-Architects.
https://www.spanish-architects.com/es/architecture-news/obra-construida/baas-arquitectura-bloque-de-viviendas-en-el-22
Lacol (s.f.). La Balma habitatge cooperatiu.
https://www.lacol.coop/projectes/la-balma/
On Diseño (2022). 68 viviendas VPO en el 22@.
https://www.ondiseno.com/proyecto.php?id=2991
Peris+Toral Arquitectes (s.f.) Social Atrium – 54 Social housing in Barcelona, Barcelona (2022).
https://peristoral.com/proyectos/social-atrium-54-social-housing-barcelona
Vicente, S. (2022). Barcelona acuerda un crédito público de 140 millones para que fundaciones y cooperativas construyan vivienda social. elDiario.es
https://www.eldiario.es/catalunya/barcelona-acuerda-ico-icf-credito-140-millones-fundaciones-cooperativas-construyan-vivienda-publica_1_9207041.html
Top Ten Design Restaurants in Barcelona
