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An apartment in Poblenou is opened up and reorganized with built-in furniture, raw materials, and a clear sense of how the space is used.
In Barcelona’s Poblenou district, an apartment inside a former industrial building has been reworked to bring clarity to a once cluttered space. Over the years, the interior had been altered repeatedly, with small rooms and a narrow hallway breaking up the layout. Aramé Studio began by removing those additions, revealing the original concrete structure and using it as a framework for the new plan.
The design opens up the apartment through a sequence of connected spaces that allow long views and natural movement. Instead of walls, custom furniture elements define the layout—curved shelving, tiled benches, cabinets that turn into partitions. These aren’t separate pieces, but tools for organizing how the space is lived in.
Color is used where it has purpose. Pale blue surfaces meet raw concrete and blond wood. In the bathrooms, red and blue tile are used floor to ceiling, creating contrast without decoration. The kitchen combines white tile, timber cabinetry, and soft blue volumes. Red chairs and mint details appear in passing. Nothing feels fixed—each area flows into the next, but holds its own character.
Materials are handled simply. Concrete is left exposed. Cabinets have a clean, matte finish. There’s no false texture or layering—everything looks and feels like what it is. A few design gestures stand out: a planter built into the center of the space, a row of lacquered pendant lamps, a lowered step that becomes seating. They don’t call attention to themselves, but they shift how the space is used.
The apartment feels open without being exposed. There are places to sit alone, places to gather, spots that are just for passing through. You notice the way the built-in furniture curves around corners, how the light moves across the tiled kitchen island in the afternoon, how sound carries from one end of the space to the other. Nothing is overstated. It’s a home that works quietly, in the background, letting the rhythms of daily life take shape around it.
Photography: Del Rio Bani
