What is the typical layout of an Eixample flat?
The flat stretches from the facade to the block's inner courtyard. At the front, facing the street, are the reception rooms with balconies; at the back, the kitchen, service rooms and the gallery. The middle holds bedrooms and bathrooms around light wells, and a long corridor beside a party wall ties it all together.
This scheme comes from the logic of Cerdà's block. The district was planned in 1859 with square blocks with chamfered corners and inner courtyards. The buildings came out narrow and deep, and light reaches only the rooms on the street and the courtyard. The middle is dark for that reason. This simple geometry shapes almost every decision about changing the layout.
Can you remove the long corridor?
Removing it entirely is almost never possible, but it can be shortened, widened or turned into a gallery. The corridor often runs beside a load-bearing wall, and moving it means moving a support. The technical architect determines which wall is load-bearing and decides where an opening can go.
Practical moves. Widen the corridor by merging it with an adjoining cupboard or bathroom. Make an enfilade: wide openings with large doors between living room, dining room and study, leaving the corridor for the service side. Turn the corridor into a gallery with niches for books and pictures. Light it from the ceiling and through glazed doors so it does not feel like a tunnel. A good combination is one large opening in the load-bearing wall, spanned by a calculated steel lintel, and several glass doors in the openings to the dark part.
Where is the kitchen moved to in Eixample flats?
From the back by the courtyard, the kitchen is usually moved closer to the living room or joined to the gallery. The traditional kitchen sits at the courtyard next to the gallery because that is where the risers and ventilation are. An open kitchen with an island in the middle needs new drainage falls and extraction.
The main limit is drainage. A pipe run with a fall needs the floor raised by 10 to 15 cm or a pump, and floors of timber and brick vaults cannot be cut. The cooker hood has to discharge into a duct, not onto the facade. So it is usually best to leave the kitchen by its own risers and duct and rework the space around it: join it to the gallery or dining room with a glazed screen. If you want the kitchen in the centre, the calculation is done before the sketches.
How do you bring light to the central part?
Use light from two sides: through openings to the living and dining rooms on the street and through the courtyard or gallery. Replace solid partitions with glazed ones in steel frames, add glass doors and transoms, paint in light, reflective colours and put mirrors opposite the light sources.
If the centre has no windows, give it functions that do not need daylight: a dressing room, utility room, store, guest cloakroom. A bedroom without natural light is best avoided: in Catalonia the housing rules (the habitability decree 141/2012) require lighting and ventilation in the main rooms, and the technician confirms the details. The light well can be put to use: enlarge the bathroom and corridor windows and paint the courtyard walls a light colour.
Which walls must not be touched?
Facade and courtyard walls, party walls between dwellings, walls around the stairwell and every wall that carries the floor beams. Also the shafts with drain and ventilation risers: they are common property and belong to the building. Often the interior wall running along the corridor is load-bearing.
How to know for sure: from the building's project (if it is in the archive, it can be requested), from the direction of the beams and by opening up. Do not rely on thickness: in old buildings thin walls can be load-bearing and thick ones not. If a wall is load-bearing, it can be opened with a calculated opening: steel beam, supports and temporary propping during the works. In that case you need a project and a licence, not only the neighbours' agreement.
How do you change the layout without breaking building rules?
The layout change is planned with a technical check and permits: altering structural elements needs a project and a major-works licence, while simple changes need only a notification. In an apartment building, the change must not affect common elements or neighbours' rights, and sometimes the comunidad's agreement is needed.
An order of work helps. First, survey and analysis of the structure. Then several layout options with their effect on the budget. Then selection, approvals and the project. Only after that do you demolish and build. The mistake made most often is drawing a beautiful plan first and learning afterwards that the wall is load-bearing or a riser is in the way.
How does BCN YARD approach the layout of an Eixample flat?
We start with a visit and measurements, check walls and risers with the technical architect and prepare two or three layout options with their budget impact. We run the project in Russian and Spanish: our own crews and trusted subcontractors, one person responsible for the project. Send the floor plan and we answer within an hour.
Frequently asked questions
Can you remove the long corridor?
Entirely, almost never: it often runs beside a load-bearing wall. It can be shortened, widened, merged with a cupboard or bathroom, turned into a gallery or made into an enfilade with wide openings. Opening a load-bearing wall needs the technician's calculation and a project.
Where is the kitchen moved to in Eixample flats?
Usually it stays beside its own risers and duct while the space around is reworked: joined to the gallery or dining room with a glazed screen. Moving it to the centre needs a new drainage fall: the floor raised 10 to 15 cm or a pump. The hood discharges into a duct, not onto the facade.
How do you bring light to the central part?
Use light from two sides, swap solid partitions for glass, add glass doors and transoms, paint in light colours and use mirrors. Where there are no windows, put a dressing room, utility room and guest cloakroom there, not a bedroom.
Which walls must not be touched?
Facade and courtyard walls, party walls, stairwell walls and those carrying the beams, plus shafts with risers. Thickness is no guide: old buildings have thin load-bearing walls. The technician determines it from the project, beam direction and an opening-up. Do not judge by wall thickness alone.