Old Cement Factory Turn Into Home. In 1973 Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill stumbled upon a cement factory in Catalonia, Spain, and a huge compound of silos and buildings that was well covered by approximately two and a half miles of underground tunnels. He stumbled upon a dilapidated cement factory but instantly saw a world of possibilities.
Then he decided to turn the old cement factory into his home and the interior will take your breath away. La fábrica was born, and almost 45 years later, the factory structure has been totally transformed into a remarkable and exclusive home.
The cement factory is located just outside of Barcelona, once a WWI-era pollution machine that had closed down, and came with numerous repairs to be done when Ricardo Bofill and his team purchased it. Original construction to transform the sprawling series of buildings took a little over a year and a half.
Once the dust cleared from the jackhammers and dynamite, Catalan craftsmen worked to add gardens and add in, model workshop, archive rooms, a residence, and a studio, a workspace for Bofill’s firm spread over four floors in the factory’s silos connected by a spiral staircase.
Therefore, after years of limited deconstruction, the strong-minded architect proceeded to lace the exterior of the property with flora and furnish the interior as a modern living and work space. Moreover, La fábrica is a work in progress continuously, to which Bofill likens his own life, as his visions for the forthcoming continue to change shape.
The factory chimneys that once used to fill the air with smoke now overflow with lush greenery. This is a true example of the lovely transformations that result from imaginative thinking. Bofill has created a perfectly programmed existence, a ritualized lifestyle that goes against his previously nomadic early life.