Nau ivanow

The Nau Ivanow is an artistic center focused on scenic arts. It is located in a former industrial area, near the train tracks.
The building was constructed in 1967 for a paint factory. Since 1997, it has been operating as an artistic center and cultural dynamizer of the neighborhood, and since 2010, it has been part of the Creation Factories Program of the Culture Institute of Barcelona. It includes a theater on the ground floor, and creation and rehearsal spaces on the upper floors.

The refurbishment was commissioned to adapt the building to current regulations, mainly compliance with fire evacuation standards. These minor transformations were carried out in a way that also improved the building’s overall performance.

Regarding the theater space, the transformation introduces a new dressing room and spaces for technical control and storage.
Regarding vertical circulation, the staircase remains in the same position but is now wider and reversed to open more effectively toward the entrance. All the toilet facilities around the staircase and the (pre-existing) freight elevator have been reorganized.

The construction seeks to express itself on a material level, distinguishing itself from the existing plastered surfaces. This materiality, based on exposed brickwork, connects with some of the building’s exterior walls. A bit of this outward expression is brought into the heart of the building. The construction is very basic and bare. The pre-existing walls, which have been incorporated into the transformation, reveal traces and marks beneath a unifying layer of white paint, evoking the memory of the original staircase walls.

Partial refurbishment of the Nau Ivanow, an industrial building from the 1960s, which is nowadays an arts center focused on scenic arts.