La Balma

La Balma is a transfer-of-use housing cooperative headed by Sostre Civic, located on a plot of land in the Poblenou neighbourhood which was granted via tender by Barcelona City Council for the construction of cooperative housing. Lacol, together with Laboqueria, is responsible for architectural work during each phase, from bidding to the completion of construction. The project focuses on optimising economic resources in order to ensure an affordable building with minimal environmental impact, avoiding energy poverty and guaranteeing the building acts as a facility which empowers residents in three social environments: the neighbourhood, the residential community and the domestic sphere.

The building is located on a green corridor replete with amenities. The cooperative aims to offer a further amenity within this corridor, sharing communal spaces and bringing the richness of the building’s community life to the wider public. For this reason, the main entrance, the communal spaces and the vertical staircase are located on the north facade, facing the local park.

A community spaces programme was developed during the initial participatory process. These spaces are distributed vertically across all floors of the building, taking on a different character depending on their use. The aim is that community and transitional spaces enhance human relationships, encourage spontaneous communication and bolster cooperative activity throughout the building (as part of the ‘big house’ concept). On the ground floor, there is a communal kitchen-dining area, space for bicycles and a workshop open to the neighbourhood, a lobby and two commercial premises looking out to Carrer Espronceda. On the other floors, in addition to the housing units, there are small-format community spaces: a multipurpose room, reading space, guest rooms, care space and laundry. A fully-accessible rooftop is composed of a spacious terrace of more than 300m2 that residents can equip with allotments, solar panels and shared recreation areas. Transitional spaces accompany community spaces throughout. So often minimised and reduced to single use, here they act as open, ventilated and sunny spaces, designed to provide quality and comprehensive use.

The design of the 20 housing units is based on a grid of diaphanous 15m² spaces. These allow for notably diverse separation and distribution, enabling residents to decide for themselves. Each housing unit contains a basic, fully-equipped 50m² module, defined as small (S). This basic unit can be expanded by one or two spaces, becoming medium (M) or large (L). These additional spaces are private in terms of their use, although they are managed by the cooperative as a whole. This management of space allows for genuine organisational flexibility.

In order to ensure a low environmental impact in the construction phase, the building is based on a dual structure designed to optimise the functionality of each material, its cost, construction speed and environmental impact. At the foundational and the street level, a reinforced concrete structure (minimum mineral material) is planned for. For the housing units and community spaces, a cross-laminated timber structure is set to be used, offering comfortable and healthy spaces and a notably positive environmental impact in terms of the building as a whole. It is a building with a light footprint, in which reusable and removable materials predominate, enabling minimal groundwork and use of materials of mineral origin.

The goal of minimising material demand can be achieved through various strategies. The first comes by developing a changeable section of the building, adapted to shifts in use across its different floors. Maximum solar capture is sought on the first, second and third floors, while the fourth and fifth are protected from excess insolation. The second is the compaction of air-conditioned areas, ensuring homes are well-insulated, with minimal energy loss. In terms of active systems, a commitment is made to centralising utilities to facilitate maintenance, improve systems efficiency and minimise costs. Utilities are understood as perfectible, leaving scope for systems which, in the future, may improve the self-sufficiency of the building in terms of energy. From the outset, the building will feature infrastructure for the placement of solar panels and pipework for the introduction of a greywater recovery system. This reduces initial investment, leaving future investment open according to the cooperative’s eventual capacities. Air conditioning and generation of domestic hot water will be achieved through a geothermal system that allows for comfort at a minimum energy cost and environmental impact. This system also enables “free-cooling” of the building during the warm months without energy input, using the circulation of cooled ground water. The air conditioning units are made from radiant clay panels. This allows maximum geothermal energy performance to be attained through a system that operates at a low temperature and is able to cool or heat using the same element.