The competition suggests a new social housing building with 64 units in El Masnou, a municipality on the coast near Barcelona. The location presents an urban character with a remarkable complexity.

Due to its considerate dimensions, the new building makes an important impact on the scale of the neighborhood, a much less densified environment. The problematics of the site are furthermore increased by the attached building, which generates a large dividing wall throughout the eastern side of the plot. According to urban regulations, this dividing wall cannot grow beyond the 3rd floor, having our building exceeding it on the upper levels.

The proposal responds to two very different realities. The result is a heterogeneous building, with a volume that gradually breaks up from the bottom up

In the lower levels (0/1/2/3) the building embraces the dividing wall at its ends and separates itself from the wall in the central space, creating an interior courtyard. This reality generates a linear building with housing units open to two ends and accessed through a walkway.

In the upper levels (4/5/6) the building rises above the dividing wall, having access to all possible orientations. This reality generates typologies of 4 units served by one core and smaller buildings open to every direction, favoring the solar capture in the courtyard and allowing the reduction of energetic demand.

The building is related to a permeable public space through various openings in the form of a porch, which allows access to the communication cores, the commercial space and the parking area. The upper floors lose mass, proposing a lighter volume, more in line with the scale of the environment.

The composition of the housing units is determined by flexibility and de-hierarchization. Solutions and typologies are standardized to achieve economic sustainability in accordance with social housing criteria. Another challenge of the project is to reach the NZEB building standards, applying mainly passive systems. Natural ventilation and lighting, solar protection and the green treatment of the courtyard and dividing walls are especially prioritized.