One of my favorite parts about the Cerda blocks and our apartment in particular is the fact that even without knowing your neighbors, there is a sort of neighborhood connection in the interior of the block, where everyone's personal lives come together; dogs barking, patios, balconies, and hang-drying clothes...these are the most enchanting parts and I wanted to find a way to capture that in some way. The sketches above show a form of bridge to attempt to recreate and put a twist on this "backyard neighborhood" that might be experienced from an underpass below.
These sketches are to explore the question of the treatment of the corner, either in the traditional Cerda, a traditional building corner, or a combination of the two.
This is the way I chose to model my initial proposal. It is an awful lot of mass, but I think it might be important to give the neighborhood a large amount of housing since it continues to be a major issue in Barcelona right now. The slanted roof can allow for the exterior facade and height to match those in surrounding blocks, while bringing the interior facade down to a more human scale. The bridged area serves as an indirect boundary-both separating the two halves of the block and allowing them to be connected through the walking path beneath.
