In the Shadow of Gaudí

Monica Geran -- Interior Design, 5/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Completed by architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch in 1906, Casa Quadras is poised at the intersection of two busy thoroughfares in Barcelona, Spain. The landmark building also sits at a crossroads of style: Gothic, art nouveau, Moorish, Islamic, Vienna Secession, and Catalan modern.

Chinese and Japanese just joined the list, too. The former mansion—subsequently converted into a music museum, with only slight alterations—has now become Casa Asia, a publicly funded cultural center for the Asia-Pacific region.

By the time that project manager Judith Masana's municipal architecture crew took over, the 18,000-square-foot, five-story building needed a complete overhaul. Masana and her team brought plumbing and wiring up to code, restored the facade's mix of Gothic and plateresque styles, and undertook the heavy-duty structural work required to carve out an auditorium, a gallery, offices, and a high-tech media library.

Efforts concentrated on the ornate ground floor, where Masana removed layers of paint and grime to expose mosaic flooring, ceramic-tile wainscoting, Corinthian columns, original glass light fixtures, and a coffered painted-oak ceiling. To comply with fire and safety codes, the grand staircase was rebuilt using high-strength concrete in a design deemed consistent with the original scheme. The atrium stairwell's new stained-glass skylight was created in the same manner.

The restoration finished, the ground floor's only seemingly anachronistic object is a custom reception desk paneled in red melamine and set on a pedestal base to accommodate the unevenness of the mosaic floor. "It provided a provocative contrast to the ornamentation," says Masana. "Color is my weakness." The desk comes courtesy of Haworth, as does a majority of the furnishings.

Indeed, Casa Asia is a veritable catalog of Haworth's offerings. The Bay executive collection enjoys pride of place in the fourth-floor business center. On the same level, a 75-seat auditorium features Daniel Korb's P.O.S. Elegance system of desks and storage units. Below a peaked oak-beamed ceiling in the fifth floor's media library, System 50 task chairs pull up to a 24-foot-long communal table, actually a line of four of the company's Step tables.

Haworth's Tutti work-architecture system—modular components used to form walls, partitions, and work surfaces—also plays a major role. Entirely reconfigurable using only an allen wrench, the system saves historic elements from structural interventions.

From top: At Casa Asia in Barcelona, Spain, a custom melamine-paneled reception desk anchors the refurbished 1906 lobby; ceramic-tile wainscoting and the mosaic floor, a reproduction of an ancient Roman design, are original. The restored atrium features a new skylight and new stairs surfaced in high-strength concrete.

Clockwise from top left: Serigraphed glass panels from the Tutti system define third-floor offices; the corridor's glass floor tile was handmade in Morocco. An aluminum partition runs down the center of the media library's four ganged Step tables, topped in plastic laminate. The business center features Bay system tables and X99 task chairs, plus Louis Poulsen floor lamps and lounge seating by Ferran Estela.

CUSTOM RECEPTION DESK (LOBBY), WALL SYSTEM (OFFICES), TABLES, CHAIRS (MEDIA LIBRARY), TABLES, TASK CHAIRS (MEETING ROOM): HA-WORTH. CEILING FIXTURE (MEDIA LIBRARY), FLOOR LAMPS (MEETING ROOM): LOUIS POULSEN LIGHTING. LOUNGE SEATING (MEETING ROOM): PEROBELL. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: SAPIC.