The cement factory

[Honey]

Loft Tour: The Cement Factory – LoftLife Magazine – The Loftstyle Guide to Life in the City


To this day, Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill’s legendary live/work complex in Barcelona, Spain remains one of, if not the most impressive examples of adaptive reuse we’ve ever seen. It all started about 35 years ago when the controversial architect discovered an abandoned cement factory comprised of over 30 silos, underground galleries and huge engine rooms. He bought it and began renovation. This included defining the space by demolishing certain structures, cleaning cement, exposing previously concealed forms, and planting various greenery including eucalyptus, palms, olive trees and cypresses. Today, the factory has been successfully transformed into his personal home, as well as a multitude of offices, modeling and archival laboratories, a projection room, and a huge space known as ‘The Cathedral’, which serves as a venue for subsequent exhibitions, lectures, and concerts.

The vast space exemplifies incredible restraint. He hasn’t filled it up with too much stuff; rather the interiors are intentionally appointed with casually slip-covered white sofas, canvas slingback seating, warm oriental rugs and lush leather upholstery. The work areas feature dramatically long conference tables paired with high-tech leather seating. In terms of artwork, beautifully framed architectural prints either hang on the wall or are displayed on wooden easels. The space overall boggles the mind, so much so that we can’t believe it even exists! But it does, and Bofill has this to say about it:
“The factory is a magic place with a strange atmosphere that is difficult to be perceived by a profane eye. I like the life to be perfectly programmed here, ritualized, in total contrast with my turbulent nomad life.”
Check out the full story of “The Cement Factory” here. For more information on Ricardo Bofill, visit his website here.

Photography by Verve

[sharky]

Wow..... unworldly.... (in a good, Bladerunner way).

[emkat]

Wow. How could you heat and cool it?

[Grimmlok]

holy fucking shit! I love a lot of it. it's like a movie set!

[calcifer]

this blows me away. it's incredible. i love him for not completely gutting this place but keeping some of the machinery parts intact. and i'm in love with the silos, they give this place more character.
it's a fantastic space... i can't stop looking at the exposed ceilings.
i'm not too sure about the décor. i like certain elements of it: the oriental rugs that blend into the sandy looking floor, all those office chairs (i've got a thing for fancy office chairs), the framed architectural prints on the walls, the use of red marble, the drapery, ... it's just awesome. can i have it, please?

[fgg]

i absolutely adore the space but the way they've decorated is awful.

[sputnik]

i want it so bad
Posted from my iPhone

[lalala]

I love his work and this place but I wouldn't have kept the silos or whatever those things hanging from the ceiling are called, the remainder of the industrial function just looks coquettish in a setting with such a tame decor

[Brookie]

I'd hate to see the energy bill for this place!

[Chimera]

I feel lost just looking at it.

[Shinola]

I find some of it beautiful, but it gives me an icky feeling, too--it reminds me of being five years old and lost in a big store.

[Chilly Willy]

Awesome. You gotta love people for their creativity.

[Shelly]

I like it. I've always liked it when people turn weird places into homes.

[Witchywoman]

One end of the room is his piano and at the other end he parks his car.

I bet the cat has a good time living here.

[BBDSP]

It's fucking cool. And it looks surprisingly livable. Very nice!