A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

 

A table can be the malleable heart and hub of a home—an interchangeable infrastructure that’s so much more than a simple piece of furniture. Maybe it’s where you begin your morning, gather to eat each night, or sip tea after a long day at work. Maybe it’s the spot you work from at home, the place you toss your keys, stow mail, save only for special occasions, or exhibit fresh flowers. Here, Barcelona-based architect Adrià Escolano and his partner David Steegmann have used the humble table as an architectural device to reconnect a rather disparate apartment in their hometown.

Set within the hillside district of Gràcia in Barcelona, the 140 square metre apartment was dark with most rooms being closed off or disconnected from the street-facing exterior, or the patio to the back. Adrià was charged with breathing new life into the space, opening it out and adding warmth and light, as well as updating the existing kitchen and bathroom.

 

A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

A Table (II) in Barcelona, Spain by ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN | Yellowtrace

 

Two materials work to weave the space together: an undulating landscape of ceramic tiles in glossy, rich ochre reds, and rose-coloured granite for a series of horizontal surfaces and tables. Where rooms were once centred around a closet, Adrià has reworked the distribution of the space and opened out existing partitions and walls, which has allowed light to flood in and for the apartment to become a set of public rooms, each unrestricted, and visible and intersected with the next. Round arches are a nod to Barcelona’s defining Art Nouveau era, while patterned tiles across the floor also reference the city’s architectural past and the apartment’s original floor plan.

The former cupboard centrepiece has been replaced with a wide, oval-shaped granite table, which—as so many tables do—doubles as kitchen bench space and, eventually, will work countless other functions (a cocktail bar? A ping-pong table?). Ultimately conceived as more framework than furniture, the table plays protagonist of each of the apartment’s living areas.

 

 


[Images courtesy of ESCOLANO + STEEGMANN. Photography by José Hevia.]

 



About The Author

Sammy Preston is a writer, editor, and curator living in Sydney. Working especially within art and design, and then lifestyle and culture more broadly, Sammy is a senior writer at Broadsheet, and a contributing digital editor at Foxtel's Lifestyle platform. Sammy also contributes regularly to art and design press like VAULT Magazine, Art Collector, Art Edit, Habitus, and Indesign magazines. She's written art essays for MUSEUM, exhibition texts for Sophie Gannon Gallery, and has worked as an arts and culture editor for FBi Radio. In 2016, she worked as part of the editorial team for Indesign Magazine as digital editor during the publication's pivotal print and website redesign. Sammy was also the founding manager and curator of contemporary art space Gallery 2010—a curator-run initiative housed within a Surry Hills loading dock. The gallery hosted exhibitions with emerging and established artists from 2012 until 2016.

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