[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-665627-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":79,"doc-detail-665627-en":129},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":72,"head_meta":74,"extra_data":76,"updated_unix":78},105,"en","sala-beckett-70-architectural-metamorphosis-and-heritage-reuse","Sala Beckett 70 - Architectural Metamorphosis and Heritage Reuse","","Architectural discussion centers on how the Sala Beckett theatre transforms the former Cooperativa de Pau i Justícia in Barcelona through continuity rather than rupture. Guided by the Venice Charter’s preference for a clear distinction between old and new, the architects instead reuse existing components so the metamorphosis is hard to detect at first glance. Removed elements are inventoried and stored, while tiles, doorways, and traces of former interiors become “ghosts” that reanimate neighborhood memory and support a 21st-century facility.",{"@graph":14,"@context":71},[15,34,54],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/sala-beckett-70-architectural-metamorphosis-and-heritage-reuse/665627/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":48,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":49,"interactionStatistic":50},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/sala-beckett-70-architectural-metamorphosis-and-heritage-reuse/665627.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Maya Linwood","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29",true,{"@type":51,"interactionType":52,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":53},"ViewAction",{"@type":55,"mainEntity":56},"FAQPage",[57,63,67],{"name":58,"@type":59,"acceptedAnswer":60},"How do the Venice Charter guidelines shape the project’s view of old versus new?","Question",{"text":61,"@type":62},"Article 12 explains why restorations often emphasize a sharp visual contrast between old and new. The text notes that historical changes are treated differently than contemporary ones, which drives the insistence that newer work must remain distinguishable.","Answer",{"name":64,"@type":59,"acceptedAnswer":65},"What strategy did Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats use when transforming the cooperative into Sala Beckett?",{"text":66,"@type":62},"They reuse as many architectural components as possible, resituating and adapting them to fulfill similar roles in a new configuration. The goal is continuity that is “not readily distinguishable,” with windows and doors kept as windows and doors.",{"name":68,"@type":59,"acceptedAnswer":69},"Why is the reuse described as reviving a social relationship with the neighborhood?",{"text":70,"@type":62},"The building’s repurposing counteracts decades of abandonment after the cooperative’s demise in the 1980s. The lack of heritage protection ironically allowed an architecture of continuity that reconnected the site to local life.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":73,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":75,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":77,"site_id":7},665627,1793305302,{"code":4,"msg":80,"data":81},"success",[82,86,89,93,98,103,108,113,118,121,125],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":83,"show_sort_weight":84,"slug":85},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":94,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":99,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":120},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":123,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":124},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":127,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":128},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":80,"data":130},{"doc_id":77,"user_id":131,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":94,"language":138,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":139,"faqs":140,"seo_title":141,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":78,"read_time":109},962084928432,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","The minimal treatment of the Sala Beckett exterior (previous page) belies the changes wrought within: ceramic floor tiles in the bar, situated atthe corner of the building (top and right) have been repurposed from the first floor. The foyer’s dramatic play of curvesand large windows allows views up and down the theatre, into its offices and café, and out onto the street  \nT  \nhe Venice Charter established the heritage restoration guidelines still in use today. Article 12 explains why, in many historic  \nbuilding restorations, a sharp contrast is emphasised between old and new: a visual trope that has come to express a certain idea of historical rupture or discontinuity between past and present. Never mind that most historic buildings are, themselves, products of multiple interventions and adaptations throughout the ages. For some reason, historical changes are never considered ‘falsifications’, whereas contemporary ones are – which is why the latter must always be ‘distinguishable’.  \nArchitects Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats do not subscribe to this ethos of discontinuity so, in their project to transform Barcelona’s Cooperativa de Pau i Justícia (Peace and Justice Cooperative) building into the Sala Beckett theatre and drama centre, they decided to reuse as much as possible of the very architectural components that make up the old building, resituating and adapting them to fulfil similar roles within a new configuration. The outcome is an architectural metamorphosis that is not readily distinguishable; one that appears, on the surface, as though little – if anything – has changed. The reuse of the building and many of its components has revived an urban social relationship with the neighbourhood that was interrupted by decades of abandonment after the demise of the cooperative in the 1980s, almost a century after its founding. Ironically, it was precisely the building’s lack of heritage protection that permitted Flores & Pratsto create this architecture of continuity.  \nIn a city such as Barcelona, which underwent a sea change in the late  \n20th century from industrial port with shantytowns to an internationally recognisable tourist brand, such an attitude is significant. Architecture performed no small role in the transformation, and the city abounds today with many works that dramatically symbolise disruption and discontinuity such as Torre Glòries by Jean Nouvel or Media-TIC by Cloud 9 Architects. Pronouncing a clean break from a miserable past through architectural character foils was precisely the point then, but today this is becoming somewhat tiresome.‘Barcelona is erasing much ofits past; it is an amnesiac city’, Eva Prats exclaims.‘So much is being forgotten and discarded.’  \nSala Beckett is on Carrer de Pere IV, a medieval road linking old Barcelona with Girona and France, which became the artery of Spain’s largest industrial district during the 19th century. From the exterior, the building looks much as it always has, its facade turning a corner onto a side street where a service entrance is located. The  \ninto a modern theatre facility that meets 21st-century building-code requirements.  \nThroughout the building, traces of changes are visible on interior walls. A mosaic on a wall in the foyer reveals the outline of a former stair that has been moved to the rear of the building, while café walls reveal the ends of iron joists from a mezzanine removed to ennoble the café with a doubleheight space. These subtle traces of the former cooperative are the very ‘ghosts’that enchant the new theatre.  \nOld elements that could potentially be reused were carefully removed, inventoried and stored instead of being tossed into landfill. Flores & Prats’ finely drafted drawings of recuperated building components alone took up no fewer than 80 A1-size drawing sheets.‘We could have simply torn everything down and built from scratch, which would have been a lot easier in terms of satisfying the competition’s programmatic needs and nor","cbCaiouSzSX80wWA","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiouSzSX80wWA","pdf",5014666,"English","# Heritage guidelines and the old-vs-new tension\n## Reuse instead of reinterpretation\n## Urban and historical continuity\n## Reconditioning into “renewed old” categories","[{\"question\":\"How do the Venice Charter guidelines shape the project’s view of old versus new?\",\"answer\":\"Article 12 explains why restorations often emphasize a sharp visual contrast between old and new. The text notes that historical changes are treated differently than contemporary ones, which drives the insistence that newer work must remain distinguishable.\"},{\"question\":\"What strategy did Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats use when transforming the cooperative into Sala Beckett?\",\"answer\":\"They reuse as many architectural components as possible, resituating and adapting them to fulfill similar roles in a new configuration. The goal is continuity that is “not readily distinguishable,” with windows and doors kept as windows and doors.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is the reuse described as reviving a social relationship with the neighborhood?\",\"answer\":\"The building’s repurposing counteracts decades of abandonment after the cooperative’s demise in the 1980s. The lack of heritage protection ironically allowed an architecture of continuity that reconnected the site to local life.\"}]","Sala Beckett 70 - Architectural Metamorphosis and Heritage Reuse | PDF"]