Gabriele Schiavon needed a place to live. After a breakup, the cofounder and creative director of the Barcelona-based design studio Lagranja needed enough space to co-parent the two children, Teo and Ona, then 9 and 13, he has with his ex. “I looked around Barcelona’s trendy inner areas and couldn’t find anything that I even minimally liked that was in my budget,” he remembers. Feeling slightly desperate, he searched online for an affordable but sizable property for sale. In the outer-limits barrio of Bellvitge, a recently vacated thermal mold workshop popped up.

When Gabriele toured the space, he was struck by three massive arched windows carved into the upper part of the front facade below a pitched roof. “The composition immediately reminded me of the AT&T Building,” says Gabriele, referring to Philip Johnson’s postmodern tower in New York City. The listing was for the third floor, above an existing dance studio. Upon entering, he saw that the windows not only embraced a wide, uninterrupted sky, but would also drench the interior in natural light. Minutes later, he realized that a potential living room in the 2,300-square-foot space was also large enough to accommodate his beloved Nanimarquina rug. His mind was made up.

Gabriele bought the property in early 2020, just before Spain went into lockdown during the pandemic. Its conversion from factory floor to family home became a Covid project. “With most of our studio’s projects on hold, I had four months to work primarily on the property,” he says.

His design had a strict set of rules: maintain the industrial feel, keep a fluid layout, and absolutely no doors. Interior walls that divided an office and a rear locker room were pulled down, leaving Gabriele with what he calls a “square doughnut”—a scheme that circulates around the interior third-floor landing. The open-plan living area, workspace, and kitchen would be placed closest to the front windows, while bathrooms and bedrooms would face the rear wall, which is topped by a row of windows, bringing additional light into the loft.

“I splurged on the areas that are important to me, like the kitchen.” —Gabriele Schiavon, designer and resident

Cost was a consideration, so most of the materials were bought from local home-renovation superstores. All of the old machinery was disposed of, save for some of the original molds, which would later be used to decorate the walls at the entrance. The flooring was sanded back to reveal the original terrazzo underlayer.

Loft living is one thing, but privacy is another, especially with teens. This problem inspired the renovation’s only structural addition: a narrow mezzanine floor, built from iron beams and pillars sheathed in gypsum panels, that bridges the rear of the home. Sleeping areas for Gabriele’s two children were set up at either end, with custom-built desks and shared storage space for clothes, sports equipment, and other assorted paraphernalia.

Gabriele’s studio specializes in hospitality, corporate, and furniture design, and Lagranja’s expertise shows in the home’s warm but pragmatic finishes. Underneath the mezzanine, where Gabriele’s simple bedroom is tucked away in a far corner, a pair of mirror-image, tile-lined bathrooms are connected by a shared vanity with a large white communal washbasin—much like a setup you might see in a smart youth hostel in Barcelona.

Other communal touches appear throughout the home, but the kitchen is very much Gabriele’s domain. A keen cook, particularly of the Mediterranean dishes he grew up on in northern Italy, he splurged on a custom stainless-steel countertop and backsplash and a beechwood table by his studio. Smeg cookware hangs from butchers’ hooks, while his most prized possession—a 1960s Faema E61 espresso machine—occupies a sizable chunk of the countertop.

“We’re getting used to living in the open plan. It’s actually quite nice when we all stand together at the bathroom sink, brushing our teeth. It gives us a moment to connect.”
—Gabriele Schiavon, designer and resident

In the living areas, the artwork and furniture, much of it gifts from artist friends and colleagues, compose what Gabriele calls “rooms full of memory.” Amid the thriving plants, walls feature eclectic curios, such as an Eames leg splint and black-and-white portraits by the Catalan documentary photographer Txema Salvans. The furniture features items from Lagranja alongside museum-worthy pieces such as Roberto Matta’s apple-shaped MAgriTTA pouf and a pair of Frank Gehry Hat Trick chairs.

Despite the decor, the home is a work in progress. Costly comfort-level improvements—such as double glazing those enormous windows—will have to wait. In the meantime, Gabriele has what many other apartment dwellers in more fashionable areas of Barcelona can only wish for: lots of light and more than enough space to collect more memories.

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Lagranja Design / @lagranja_design

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