Casa de las Lavanderas Restored With Cobalt Blue in Barcelona

By Marcus Bennett

Raúl Sánchez restored the 40-square-metre ground floor of Casa de las Lavanderas in Barcelona’s Eixample, a narrow two-storey house with a 1.5-metre level drop.

The house overlooks Calle Aiguafreda and Calle Granollers. Wallpaper* traces the district’s development to an unexpected source: washerwomen. They washed, scrubbed, rinsed and cleaned the clothes of the Catalan bourgeoisie in wells along Calle Aiguafreda.

What history does the house carry?

Wallpaper* reports that Casa de las Lavanderas once accommodated washerwomen and their families. They went out daily to their wells to hand-scrub clothes. The architect’s clients were a couple with a newborn baby. Sánchez wanted the narrow house to reflect the history of those residents.

Sánchez told Wallpaper*: “The history of the place, the existing wells, the washerwomen... I tried to take all this history and translate it into the present times.”

His stated challenge was to carry that narrative into daily use. Sánchez continued: “The biggest challenge is always to make something that can move you, to bring that narrative element of the well of light into the functionality of the house, and create a space which can enhance the level of complexity that any house has to have.”

How does Sánchez resolve the split level?

Wallpaper* reports a 1.5-metre fall between the two street levels. Sánchez integrated the entrance at mid-level within the 40-square-metre ground floor. A new staircase descends to the lower level; another rises to the first floor, which contains the bedrooms and a bathroom. The ground floor holds an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area.

The split becomes a legible section rather than a residual condition. Two new stairs carry movement in opposite directions.

What brings light into the ground floor?

Wallpaper* describes an openable skylight above a lightwell at the heart of the building. It draws sun down through the semi-subterranean ground-floor spaces and works like a courtyard drawn into the house. Bright cobalt blue lacquer revives the memory of the wells in a contemporary register.

Sánchez said: “The well of light, with the glossy blue lacquer, is the element which creates the entire project.”

Which details connect the house to its former use?

Wallpaper* reports that one client, who had lived in Japan, admired the integration of folding doors in wood and rice paper. The doors refer to the large screens that divided the old washrooms. Although the house has lost its original laundry purpose, Sánchez uses them to connect the new domestic rooms to that work.

Sánchez’s material palette combines terracotta tiles, glazed tiles, reddish lacquers and paints. He tied those finishes to the traditional clay of the neighbouring orchards. Cobalt lacquer, the lightwell and the folding screens acknowledge the site’s washing history while giving the restored rooms a contemporary layer.

What happens next?

Wallpaper* reports that the interior overhaul marks phase one of the project’s new look and that a garden redesign is currently under development.

Sánchez stated the objective: “I would like [people] to feel that the house is part of the history of the place, and at the same time, it is adding a new contemporary layer.”

The pending garden is the next test of that proposition. Its design will determine how far the house’s historical references can extend beyond the restored interior.