Case Study #2: Walden 7

Architect: Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura
Location: Sant Just Desvern, Barcelona, Spain
Year: 1972–1974
Status: Completed
Program: 446 dwellings, public spaces, meeting rooms, games rooms, bars, and shops on the ground floor, and two swimming pools on the flat roof
Client: Ceex. 3
Size: 31,140 m²

The project, built in 1974 by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, is located in Sant Just Desvern, a town west of Barcelona, in a plot formerly occupied by a cement factory. Designed as a series of buildings, only one was finally built.

The building, called “City in Space,” is composed of eighteen towers which are displaced from their base, forming a curve and coming into contact with the neighboring towers. The result is a vertical labyrinth with seven interconnecting interior courtyards, as far removed as possible from the model of the uniform, repetitive housing block.

The 31,140 m² complex includes 446 dwellings, public spaces, meeting rooms, games rooms, bars, and shops on the ground floor, and two swimming pools on the roof.

The dwellings are formed on the basis of one or more 30 m² square modules creating, on different levels, dwellings that range from a studio consisting of a single module to a large, four-module apartment.