Coòpolis

The project began in 2016 with the commission to create a temporary headquarters for Coòpolis BCN until it could move to its permanent site. Coòpolis BCN is a comprehensive facility for the promotion and development of the social and cooperative economy in Barcelona, located within the former industrial complex of Can Batlló. Coòpolis has become a reference space for all initiatives in the social, cooperative, and community economy that require training, advice, or support, establishing a new hub of economic development in the city.

The first intervention took place in 2017 and involved setting up a temporary space on the ground floor of Building 8 in the Can Batlló complex as a promotional office for the Coòpolis project. This space needed to host promotional events, presentations, and meetings related to both the project and its connection to the surrounding neighborhood. The goal was to create a space of identity and reference that would contribute to the success of its development—an initial phase to begin consolidating the project while its permanent site was being defined. In 2019, the project was expanded to include training and cooperative incubation areas.

Building 8 dates back to 1880, and Coòpolis is located in two perimeter warehouses made of masonry walls, wooden trusses, and tiled roofs, as well as an interior nave formed by a structure of iron columns and beams with ceramic vaults. The project’s main strategies focus on recognizing the existing architecture, aiming to recover the most significant elements and approaching the new construction carefully and respectfully. The reuse of materials, the recovery of existing elements, and attention to the building’s unique morphology bring character to the space, reflecting the industrial heritage of the site while also reducing costs and minimizing environmental impact.

The project centers on the construction of various wooden boxes and modules to accommodate the different activities of the facility. Most of the intervention on the building envelope is minimized, with only punctual repairs made to the roofs and existing joinery, allowing investment to be focused on rehabilitation. The new wooden structures are designed to provide comfort while being non-invasive, easy to dismantle, and aligned with the temporary nature of the project thanks to dry construction techniques. Nevertheless, a spacious area of nearly 1,000 m² is created, combining semi-outdoor and enclosed areas, allowing activities to take place in any space throughout much of the year and encouraging interaction among the project participants. To support natural ventilation, three solar chimneys were incorporated, allowing passive airflow throughout the space.

The project is organized into three differentiated areas responding to the various needs of the facility. In the corner of the nave is the technical team area, where a wooden cubicle of about 60 m² was built to accommodate eight workstations for the entities and technical personnel involved. This space also includes a meeting room and serves as a personalized attention point. In the side nave is the training area, with a new 80 m² wooden cubicle divided into three classrooms of approximately 30 m² each. This structure was built using FJY beams and reclaimed plywood from the same site, reinforcing the project’s commitment to material reuse. The classrooms have direct street access and are highly accessible. Finally, within the interior nave lies the incubation area, composed of nine modules formed by ground-floor and mezzanine structures built with wooden columns and beams and finger-jointed floor panels. These modules, ranging from 20 to 30 m², are designed to host cooperatives in the early stages of development and include hygienic facilities and a shared office area.