The home of this Spanish and Italian team is in the old town of Barcelona, just outside the Gothic walls, in a building whose past is as rich and complex as it is difficult to define. When Miralles and Tagliabue first saw the building it was in a desperate state of disrepair. They decided to remodel the main apartment in the building, which featured an independ- ent entrance and its own courtyard and garden in the back.

When they began remodeling, very little of the building’s past splendor remained. None of the partition walls was still standing, and only the perimeter walls remained, decorated with old paintings and bits and pieces of former details. This raised the question of how best to divide the interior space. They first thought of curtains, but they finally opted for a few new interior walls, movable wooden furniture, and wooden doors as partitions.

Old floor tiles look like carpets, and seem to repeat the pat- terns of light and shadows produced beneath the windows. The tiled patches set up directional signals and tensions within the rooms. Everywhere, original patches of fresco remain, along with original ceiling beams and decorations, and gothic arches discovered during construction in the living room. These details and the floor pavings, combined with the contemporary furnishings, lend a patchwork look to the interiors.

A large oak table placed in the hall acts as an indirect model of the house. Made of detachable segments that predict and echo the possible movements of people inside the house, the table is meant as its metaphor. Pieces of this migratory table can often be seen in different rooms, fulfilling various functions.  

Zabalbeascoa, Anatxu, House of the Architect, Rizzoli, 1995