La Fábrica / Ricardo Bofill Taller De Arquitectura

Architects: Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura
Area: 3,100 m² (33,368 ft²)
Year: 1975
Photography: Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, Salva López, Lluis Carbonell, Gregori Civera, Richard Powers, María González, Wikimedia Commons, Till F. Teenck, Boubloub
Program: Architectural offices, archives, model laboratory, exhibition space, residence, guest rooms, gardens
City: Sant Just Desvern
Country: Spain

La Fábrica adaptive reuse project, designed by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura in Sant Just Desvern, transformed a former cement factory into a combined residential, cultural, and working environment, completed in 1975. The project redefined industrial reuse through the selective demolition, adaptation, and reoccupation of an abandoned early twentieth-century industrial complex. La Fábrica integrates offices, archives, exhibition spaces, gardens, and residential areas within former silos, machine rooms, and industrial structures. The project establishes a continuous relationship between exposed concrete, vegetation, and new spatial programs, creating a layered architectural environment shaped through long-term transformation and occupation.

La fábrica / ricardo bofill taller de arquitectura | classics on architecture lab

La Fábrica originated as a cement production complex constructed in phases during the early twentieth century near Barcelona. The industrial site included silos, underground galleries, machine rooms, conveyors, and a 105-meter chimney connected to the regional railway infrastructure. After industrial operations ceased in the late 1960s, the abandoned complex remained partially ruined and overgrown.

Ricardo Bofill discovered the site in 1973 and initiated a process of transformation through demolition and adaptation. Parts of the factory were removed to reveal concealed spatial conditions and establish new relationships between surviving structures. The intervention treated the existing concrete framework as a sculptural system rather than a fixed industrial artifact.

Eight silos were preserved and converted into offices, archives, meeting spaces, a model workshop, and a library for Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. A large former industrial hall known as “The Cathedral” became a multipurpose cultural space used for exhibitions, lectures, concerts, and studio events. Residential spaces were integrated into quieter sections of the complex, including Bofill’s private apartment and guest rooms.

The project avoids a rigid organizational hierarchy. Circulation moves through stairways, bridges, terraces, rooftop paths, and interconnected volumes shaped by the existing industrial geometry. Large openings cut into the concrete structures establish visual continuity between interior spaces, gardens, and exterior terraces.

Vegetation became a central component of the transformation. Eucalyptus, palms, cypress, olive trees, climbing vines, and rooftop gardens were introduced throughout the site, softening the industrial mass and redefining the relationship between architecture and landscape. Concrete surfaces remain exposed while vegetation gradually integrates with the structure over time.

La Fábrica continues to operate as the headquarters of Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. The project demonstrates how adaptive reuse can extend beyond preservation by allowing industrial structures to support new forms of occupation, cultural production, and spatial experimentation.