Minimalism with a truss and a box. Pratt’s flat by P-M-A-A

Housing renovations in old buildings are always a challenge. Performing an intervention in a space to recover or enhance their identity or do something new about it is, always a challenge and dialogue with the memory of the place.

P-M-M-A took advantage of the commission to reform this flat in the Raval of Barcelona, to propose a contemporary reading, around a structural element that ends up becoming the protagonist of the project, a yellow painted truss.

Pratt’s flat by P-M-A-A. Photograph by José Hevia

P-M-M-A carries out a project that becomes a minimalism remodelation, simple and elegant, with only a yellow truss and an almost surgical box of facilities, where the kitchen and the toilet are located. The rest of the project, white, pristine walls and a continuous floor.

Project description by P-M-A-A

What is the role of the structure in interior design?

This project is about how a structural reinforcement organizes a remodelling, or how a remodelling is structural.

The owners of a building, which predates 1900, in which Francisco Ibáñez could have been inspired, commissioned us to perform a structural intervention in one of the apartments.

With only two points of support, given the poor state of the building, a Pratt truss appears to be the best solution to solve this “mess”. The reinforcement marks the height of a central piece and serves to organize two rooms, a living room/kitchen and a bathroom. Needing to connect the façade with the core and due to the proportion of the apartment, the diagonal appeared to be the best option to give hierarchy to the different uses.

The resulting space between the central piece and the floor allows natural lighting and ventilation to reach the rooms.

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Conceptual model. Pratt’s flat by P-M-A-A.

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More information

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Architects

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P-M-A-A. Main architects.- Adrián Jurado and Jaime Fernández.

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Collaborators

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Magda Barceló, Albert Guerra.

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Location

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Raval, Barcelona. Spain.

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Area

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35 sqm

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Dates

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2019

Adrián Jurado, Jaime Fernández, Magda Barceló, Albert Guerra PMAA

P-M-A-A is an architecture and design studio based in Barcelona derived from the efforts of four team members, Adrián Jurado, Jaime Fernández, Magda Barceló and Albert Guerra. Everything started back in 2012 with the development of projects and teaching activities with a genuine experimental approach within the architecture sector.

As of today, these same principles constitute the origin of their work, which they perform in a space shared with a carpentry workshop and surrounded by an industrial atmosphere. Through this symbiosis, their studio operates as a permanent experimental atelier while allowing them to produce their own pieces, items and structures for each project.

Their work is supported by regarding mock-ups as the synthesis of a project and driven, above all, towards the clarity of each project. By acting as the reference elements on each project, mock-ups allow them to remove those superfluous elements that may have been introduced into the work processes from the architectural space.

Published on: October 19, 2019

Cite: "Minimalism with a truss and a box. Pratt’s flat by P-M-A-A" METALOCUS. Accessed

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