Changing Spaces in J. Puig i Cadafalch’s Summer Home

The summer home built by Josep Puig i Cadafalch in Argentona, in the Maresme district, is an architectural and historical symbol and reference point. Currently forgotten and abandoned, this modernista (Catalan art nouveau) residence, which was adapted to the needs of a specific client, has suffered from a high degree of degradation, as a consequence loosing heritage value. The proposed intervention is based on an exhaustive analysis of its interior so as to once again open its doors outwards, allowing it to be transformed into a space for the search for knowledge on various levels.

An intervention is thus proposed which, in accord with the philosophy, perspective and criteria of the original architect—who in his own time was highly conscious of the environment and inherent qualities we use as human beings—will now be transformed into both a museum space and a foundation, with the additional inclusion of an experimental centre. The home will thus become a meeting point between functionality and multi-disciplinary activity, with an eclectic architecture combining a variety of features both inside and out.

This project aims to address two problems. The first is to reactivate a key piece of unused architecture with no clear utilization, by means of research into all features comprising the work in question, addressing its choice as a research centre as well.

The second is to formalize its interior, so that it might respond to current needs without losing the key points of reference set out by its architect. That is, the project will focus on inciting dialogue with the past, present and future, with the architecture as a connecting factor. It will pick up on the principles and objectives of the original architecture, as well as Puig i Cadafalch’s creative path, focussing the research through transformed spaces, changing and in evolution, spaces meant to live amongst us.

The space makes up part of a whole, as a feature of symbiosis we might draw from, learn from and evoke in our subconscious. It grows in our lives, varying with our thoughts and emotions, so that the space might signify everything around us.

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