Santa Coloma de Gramenet Housing Competition, settled

The project responds to a competition for social housing in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Catalunya, under the motto “Encajamos vidas” we fit lives together.

Strict regulatory constraints on buildable area left almost no room to manoeuvre: every square meter had to work twice as hard. The result is less a floor plan than a puzzle — units interlocking, overlapping, and negotiating space with one another until nothing is wasted and everything fits.

We built the model in Lego. Not as a gimmick, but because the logic of the design is the logic of the bricks: modular, stackable, and precise — every piece finding its place within a fixed grid, the way every family finds its place within the building.

Catalunya’s housing regulations set a strict minimum: among the tightest thresholds in Spain. Yet strict rules alone don’t guarantee good architecture. In countries like Austria and the Netherlands, where social housing makes up a far larger share of the total stock, decades of investment have produced developments known for genuine design quality, not just compliance. Social housing deserves the same ambition here. Families who need it most shouldn’t be the ones asked to accept the least.