There are houses, and then there’s Ricardo Bofill’s house: a brutalist former cement factory of epic proportions on the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain. A grandiose monument to industrial architecture in the Catalonian town of Sant Just Desvern, La Fabrica is a poetic and personal space that redefines the notion of the conventional home. […] Rising above lush gardens that mask the grounds’ unglamorous roots, the eight remaining silos that once hosted an endless stream of workmen and heavy machinery now house both Bofill’s private life, and his award-winning architecture and urban design practice.
This aesthetic strikes me as insightful. Two points that stuck out to me from the video: (a) that the space isn’t organized functionally, but by mental and psychological activities, and (b) that luxury is in a space and lifestyle, rather than displayed in the things which adorn your house. I wasn’t as thrilled by the part of the design of keeping people disconnected and only letting them cross paths when they wanted to. Great closing line: “Beauty is what moves me, and after that intelligence.”
(via haydenhunter, via In Residence: Ricardo Bofill, Albert Moya for Nowness)