The project consists in the remodelling of the façade of the ground floor entrance to the Institut d’Estudis Nord-Americans de Barcelona.

The ground floor of the Institut d’Estudis Nord-Americans de Barcelona is divided into two heterogeneous areas: one of them, the larger one, occupies the projection of the Institut’s own building, while a second area occupies part of the ground floor of the neighbouring building, Via Augusta 121.

The objective is to express these two enclosures as a unit at street level, that is, in the urban landscape, as what they are: the ground floor of the I.E.N.. In doing so, two main improvements are achieved: firstly, to give a greater scale to the presence of the institute in the city of Barcelona and, specifically, in the Via Augusta; secondly, to clarify, by improving them, the accesses and the organisation of the spaces, making them more visible, more transparent, more comprehensible, given that they achieve a façade on the street of greater dimension, as they are read as a single entity.

The objective of the project presents a rather obvious difficulty: the great heterogeneity between the two ground floors that are to be related more intimately and explicitly.

The heterogeneity is made up of divergences between: periods / forms / materials.

On the other hand, we consider it possible to find and strengthen relationships between: textures / rhythms / forms.