Four iconic houses you shouldn’t miss out on at the 48 Open House BCN 2017

This weekend, Barcelona and other cities in the metropolitan area will host a new edition of the 48h Open House BCN festival, an architectural event that opens the doors of more than 200 buildings of all types, shapes and sizes. It is a unique opportunity to visit the Apartment-Museum of Casa Bloc, Habitatge 1/11, but also other iconic houses. We suggest three more:

Apartment-Museum of Casa Bloc, Habitatge 1/11 (Sant Andreu)

This building of workers’ apartments, which was initiated during the Second Catalan Republic in 1933, can be visited every Saturday morning thanks to the Museu del Disseny.

Considered a symbol of rationalist architecture in Barcelona, with the visit free this weekend, you will have the opportunity to discover the original structure and appearance of Casa Bloc, designed by Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé and Joan Baptista Subirana.

Pavelló de la República (Horta-Guinardó)

Also known as the Spanish Pavilion, this is a replica of the building which represented the Spanish Republic at the International Exhibition of Paris in 1937.

Designed by architects Josep Lluís Sert and Luis Lacasa, the Pavelló de la República (Pavilion of the Republic) incorporated architectural and design innovations that put it at the forefront of the European avant-garde. Did you know this was the first place where Pablo Picasso's Guernica was exhibited?

Casa Bartomeu - Jardí dels Tarongers (Les Corts)

In 1942, engineer and patron, Josep Bartomeu, bought a farm in Pedralbes and reconstructed the main house, dating from 1866, to his own taste. In the noucentista style, it used traditional and simple materials.

In Casa Bartomeu, of particular note is the Sala de Música or Music Room, where free concerts and recitals were organised over a period of more than ten years, and the Jardí dels Tarongers (Garden of Orange Trees), which has retained its original character.

Casa Nau (Sant Martí)

From a factory producing thread in the 1950s to single-family housing in the 21st century. The visit to Casa Nau, accompanied by its owner and architect (Carol Iborra), offers a unique opportunity to see a project at first hand in which the past and the present are combined in harmony.

A house full of light that retains its expansive windows, vaults and large metal structures and which often appears in adverts, on tv series and in films.