Barcelona’s escalating housing crisis, marked by rising costs and inflexible development strategies, has revealed the limitations of conventional urban planning. In response to this pressing challenge, the Illa Glòries housing project offers a clear architectural stance that positions public housing not as a concession but as a site of innovation. Located at the intersection of the 22@ technological district and the historic Eixample, the project occupies a critical urban node where infrastructural evolution and historical continuity meet.
Illa Glòries Collective Housing Technical Information
- Architects1-18: Cierto Estudio
- Location: Plaça de les Glòries, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, Barcelona, Spain
- Total Project Area: 35,000 m²
- Gross Area: 35,000 m2 | 376,700 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years: 2017 – 2024
- Photographs: © Jose Hevia, © Marta Vidal
We are incredibly proud of the Illa Glòries project. It represents a new model for urban living, one that prioritizes community, sustainability, and the well-being of its residents. We believe this project will serve as an inspiration for future housing developments in Barcelona and beyond.
– Cierto Estudio Architects
Illa Glòries Collective Housing Photographs
Domestic Architecture as a Framework for Social Cohesion
Designed by Cierto Estudio, Building A of the Illa Glòries development is one component of a larger urban block comprising 238 dwellings. The project was the result of an international competition organized by the Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge i Rehabilitació de Barcelona. With 51 residential units, Building A explores alternative typologies and social frameworks, offering a flexible, inclusive, and sustainable approach to collective housing.
Cierto Estudio’s design reimagines domestic space as a field of negotiation rather than prescription. The spatial layout of each apartment rejects conventional hierarchies. Instead of a dominant living area or a parental suite, the units comprise rooms of similar size and stature. This non-hierarchical configuration enables multiple living arrangements, accommodating a diverse range of household compositions. The resulting ambiguity is intentional, as it facilitates an adaptable domestic landscape that evolves in response to its inhabitants.
At the heart of each home is the kitchen, carefully positioned to serve both spatial and social functions. Rather than relegating the kitchen to the periphery, the design treats it as a node of connectivity, integrating it with circulation paths and enhancing its visibility. This spatial prominence reflects a broader intention to recognize and elevate the role of caregiving in domestic life.
The project also engages critically with the notion of gendered space. By creating layouts that facilitate shared responsibilities and visibility of domestic labor, the architecture challenges embedded assumptions about who performs which tasks within the household. Diagonal sightlines, centrally located service areas, and flexible boundaries foster autonomy without sacrificing collectivity.
Illa Glòries Community Infrastructure and Urban Interface
The Illa Glòries development is equally concerned with the collective as it is with the individual. The residential block is arranged around two large courtyards, offering semi-private communal spaces shielded from the street yet visually porous. These interior voids serve as social condensers, creating a network of spatial relationships that encourage informal encounters, shared routines, and collective care.
Borrowing from the traditional “corrala” typology, the design introduces continuous balconies that wrap around the building’s inner façade. These balconies serve not only as circulation routes but also as extensions of the home. They host transitional moments between public and private, offering opportunities for interaction while maintaining spatial gradients of privacy.
The rooftop, accessed via generous south-facing walkways, acts as a secondary communal platform. It serves as both a social and climatic device, providing relief from urban heat while fostering community rituals. These vertical layers of interaction, balcony, courtyard, and rooftop, form a spatial palimpsest that supports the rhythms of collective life without imposing uniformity.
The project’s interface with the city is equally calibrated. A pedestrian corridor links Plaça de les Glòries with the Mercat dels Encants, weaving the project into the urban fabric. Ground-floor commercial spaces animate the street while the courtyards, subtly visible from outside, establish a dialogue between openness and enclosure.
Material Systems and Environmental Strategies
The material strategy employed by Cierto Estudio reflects a strong commitment to environmental responsibility. The structure of Building A is constructed from cross-laminated timber (CLT), a decision that aligns with the project’s broader sustainability goals. The use of CLT reduces the building’s embodied carbon, minimizes construction waste, and allows for a prefabricated, low-impact assembly process. It also introduces a warmth and tactile quality that contrasts with the concrete and steel that dominate Barcelona’s residential architecture.
The project adheres to Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) standards, incorporating passive strategies such as solar shading, cross-ventilation, and high thermal insulation. The façade is designed to optimize solar gain in winter and prevent overheating in summer, enhancing comfort without relying on mechanical systems.
Over 60 percent of the site is dedicated to green areas, including planted courtyards and a vegetated roofscape. These elements contribute to reducing the urban heat island effect while also enriching the microclimate and supporting biodiversity. Water management and lifecycle planning were also key components of the design, ensuring that the building performs not only energetically but also ecologically.
Illa Glòries Collective Housing Plans
Illa Glòries Collective Housing Image Gallery
About Cierto Estudio
Cierto Estudio is a Barcelona-based architecture firm founded in 2014 by six women architects, known for their collaborative approach and commitment to inclusive, adaptable, and sustainable design. Their work encompasses collective housing, public spaces, and urban planning, often challenging traditional domestic hierarchies and exploring innovative social and spatial frameworks.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Architects (Building A): Cierto Estudio with Franc Llonch
- Cierto Estudio Team: Marta Benedicto, Ivet Gasol, Carlota de Gispert, Anna Llonch, Lucia Millet, Clara Vidal, with Mariana Gomes
- Client: Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge i Rehabilitació de Barcelona (IMHAB)
- Program: Collective housing block, part of a 238-unit redevelopment
- Total Project Area: 35,000 m² (entire block)
- Building A Area: 8,700 m² (51 dwellings)
- Site Area: 5,000 m²
- Number of Units: 238 total; 51 in Building A
- Budget: €45,000,000 total; €11,595,000 for Building A
- General Contractor: SACYR
- Timber Assemblers: Velima
- CLT Supplier: Xilonor
- Construction Management: Ángel Gil
- Structural Engineering: Bernuz-Fernández Arquitectes S.L.P
- Mechanical Engineering: Eletresjota Tècnics Associats S.L.P
- Environmental Consultancy: Societat Orgànica +10 SCCL
- Acoustic Consultancy: Àurea Acústica S.L.
- Landscape Architecture: Beatriz Borque + Miquel Mariné
