La fabrica-factory turned into a home

I always look at old industrial buildings as beautiful spaces that can have a second life for people to live in with those large layouts, high ceilings and industrial aesthetics. The most common examples we see are warehouses converted into big lofts. But imagine a whole factory made into a home and office space. This is exactly what architect Ricardo Bofill did with La Fabrica, this huge 3,100 sqm cement factory near Barcelona he first spotted in 1973. The building dating back to the WWI era has seen several lives and was abandoned with nature slowly growing on the structures. Bofill has since been working on La Fabrica for the past 40 years, from 1975 to today. It has been a constant evolution transforming the factory through thought- out phases. First came the destruction with dynamite and jackhammer to cover and reveal certain spaces, similar to what a sculptor would do. Then came the greening and the planting with climbing plants positioned on the wall and hanging from the roof. La Fabrica is somewhat mystical with all the Cathedral size volumes and vegetation that surrounds it.

Did you know: Ricardo Bofill founded his architecture workshop with an interdisciplinary approach to architecture and includes not only architects but designers, a mathematician, a musician, a poet, and a philosopher.