Someone only dreams of turning their life into a fairy tale, while someone else turns their dreams into reality!
Famous Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill, having bought an abandoned cement plant in Barcelona in 1973, turned it into a real castle!
He spent two years creating here not only a place of residence, but also equipped an office, archive, exhibition hall, workshop, guest rooms, and grew a garden. Minimalism and restrained simplicity — this is how one can characterize the style of his dwelling. And also a bit of modernism and surrealism. Massive industrial architecture already plays the main role here, while the rest of the design merely emphasizes the scale of this structure with barely noticeable notes.
Bofill did not choose the building of the former cement plant by chance. Enormous spaces, air, play of light and shadow from huge arched windows, combination of various textures, forms and materials. Here one can feel simultaneously like a hermit living in the past and a social lion entertaining guests at formal dinners. And most importantly, here one can find a muse for creativity and focus while working on projects.
To give the brutal concrete facade a more residential look, the architect planted entire gardens of plants, some of which wrap the walls, others grow near the dwelling. Palm trees, eucalyptus, olives and cypresses — the garden is a separate pride of the owner, which justifiably arouses admiration.
For Ricardo, his house is a separate universe that he created himself.
