Ricardo Bofill, Bofill Arquitectura, “Walden 7″, Barcelona, Spain

Walden 7, built in 1974, represents the successful implementation of an old ambition of architect Ricardo Bofill and it has a special significance within the development of his work. Working to a budget appreciably lower than the norm for subsidized housing at the time, and with some unusual funding, Walden-7 rose up as a monument and point of reference in this area to the west of Barcelona.

Walden 7 consists of a fourteen-storey cluster of 446 apartments, grouped around five courtyards, on top of which are two swimming pools. With few exceptions, each apartment faces both the outside of the block and into one of the courtyards, There is a complex system of bridges and balconies for access producing a fantastic variety of vistas and enclosures.

The exterior facade has the appearance of a huge fortification completely painted in red, which is opened to the interior spaces through large overtures like urban windows with a height of several stories. The courtyards have a lively treatment because of the intense blue and yellow colored facade. The main courtyard, at the building’s entrance, is a recovery of the street and the plaza for the benefit of the inhabitants, which generates an interior world apart from the exterior chaos.

The dwellings, a combination of square 30 square meter modules, come in different sizes, ranging from the single-module studio to the four-module apartment, either on one floor or as a duplex. The ground floor consists of public spaces, meeting rooms, games rooms, bars and shops.