The project foresaw the construction of a residential complex containing 108 social housing units in L’ Hospitalet de Llobregat, a municipality of Barcelona. The apartments go up on a conveniently located site both for its closeness to the city center and its easy access to a large transportation network and a comfortable connection to Ronda de Dalt – the Barcelona beltway.

The plot is trapezoidal in shape, and its main front can only be accessed through the avenue Josep Tarradellas i Joan – since the train tracks are practically parallel to the rear block –, and there are no roads along the two sides, with a drop in the terrain of more than five meters between the city level and the top platform. These premises determined the decision to generate a huge plinth of 70 meters in length with a ground level on which the residential blocks rise.

At ground level, a separate retail facility linked to the first parking level faces the city with a front built entirely with the same material, and which houses emergency exits, systems, ventilations... Pedestrian access to the dwellings is through two central communication cores, looking out towards the avenue and lined up with the facade. These cores connect the city level with that of the upper platform, connected by an interior pedestrian street that leads to the rear communal area, after going through courtyards and garden paths. Each vertical core gives access to 36 units with terraces, around four units per floor, with a total of 108. There are 91 three-bedroom units and fourteen two-bedroom apartments, as well as dwellings adapted for disabled people.

The complex consists of three apparently free-standing towers as main facade onto the avenue, linked to a large linear block, slightly lower in height, which acts as backdrop for the building. These volumes are joined along the central void by communication cores. This arrangement permits orienting all the apartment units towards the south and the city views, and applying passive ecoefficiency measures such as natural lighting and cross ventilation.

The three towers emphasize their vertical character through their composition and the top crowning element, where the installations are placed. The building’s corners are dematerialized, generating transparency and giving the towers a light appearance, evocative of the poetic image of a Miesian skyscraper.