Expert profile · Subject of the heritage case studies

Ferran Vizoso Rodríguez

Barcelona architect. His fifteen-year portfolio, housing, landscape and public work, is the heritage foundation of this publication, published here as credited case studies.

Education

ETSAB UPC, class of 1998. This is a verified fact from the backtracking report; no further educational claims are made on this page.

Teaching

Professor at La Salle Barcelona, teaching and research alongside practice.

Practice

Founder of the SIMBIOTIQA studio. The practice later rebranded under that name, which is why the original portfolio domain was left behind and eventually expired.

Recognition

The Corbera d'Ebre church restoration was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2016, where the studio received the León de Oro.

The naming rule, stated plainly

  • • Always: “Expert profile of Ferran Vizoso” and “Case study: …, by Ferran Vizoso (SIMBIOTIQA)”.
  • • Never: “By Ferran Vizoso” on new articles, first-person voice implying he runs this site, or any suggestion of his endorsement.
  • • New articles are credited to the Ferranvizoso Editorial Desk, not to Ferran Vizoso.

His projects on this site

Master plan of the park with the tree corridors and planting

Landscape · Landscape Architecture

1 Big Round Pond Park

Barren and fertile: landscape design for the common areas of the El Pla housing scheme in Prats i Sansor, La Cerdanya, where a huge circular pond stores rainwater and becomes the meeting place of the park.

What it teaches: The areas to be landscaped were old barren fields where only grass could grow.

Read the 1 Big Round Pond Park case study →

Site plan and section of the plaza with the buried cistern

Landscape · Landscape Architecture

1 Buried Cistern Plaza

Cheap and rich: a public space with a temporary parking lot and a buried rainwater tank in Ciutadella, Menorca, a contemporary take on the island’s traditional way of saving water.

What it teaches: The challenge of this very low-budget arrangement of an empty plot by the old cemetery of Ciutadella was the maximisation of its public service.

Read the 1 Buried Cistern Plaza case study →

Roof diagram of the church restoration with the new transparent cover highlighted

Public · Commercial Architecture

1 Huge Skylight Church

Interior and exterior restoration of an old church in Tarragona: a derelict temple given back to the people as a new, secure multifunctional public room under a transparent ETFE roof.

What it teaches: The work gives the old church back to the people, transforming it into a new and secure multifunctional public room.

Read the 1 Huge Skylight Church case study →

Site plan of the parking lot and pedestrian access in green

Landscape · Landscape Architecture

1 Slab 4 All Garden

Generic and specific: the parking lot and pedestrian access of the Albufera d’Es Grau Natural Park Interpretation Center in Menorca, built from one concrete slab that becomes pavement or bench.

What it teaches: The initial proposal posed a unique generic solution: the realisation of all the elements of the parking lot and the pedestrian accesses with one single piece, a reinforced concrete slab made ‘in situ’, able to become either pavement or bench. In the end, some specific situations could not be solved by the global rule: the pavement of the main entrance and the parking lot became exceptions to the general rule.

Read the 1 Slab 4 All Garden case study →

Section drawing of the house with the diagonal guideline highlighted

Housing · Residential Architecture

2 Patios House

Diagonal and square: a single-family terraced house in Sant Lluís, Menorca, with two patios and one cantilevered bow window bringing light and southern views into a luminous interior.

What it teaches: The design had two main aims: a luminous interior, and the spectacular southern views down the street.

Read the 2 Patios House case study →

Section drawing of the house with sunlight falling through the two skylights

Housing · Residential Architecture

2 Skylight House

Two discreet skylights bring light and air to the dark central rooms of an untouched vernacular house, transforming it without changing its traditional exterior.

What it teaches: This intervention had to make compatible the maximum respect towards the character of this, until then, untouched vernacular construction and the satisfaction of the current needs (technical and functional) that any contemporary residence has.

Read the 2 Skylight House case study →

Section drawing of the warehouse with the two new skylights highlighted

Public · Commercial Architecture

2 Skylights Shop

New and old: the refurbishment of an old warehouse in Sant Climent, Menorca, into a grocery shop of traditional island products, with new furniture made from the wood of the old beams and two skylights lighting the big room.

What it teaches: The transformation of this old warehouse into a grocery shop of traditional island products had to maintain the spacious volume of the main room without any added construction.

Read the 2 Skylights Shop case study →

Section drawing of the hospital with the new skylight shafts highlighted in yellow

Public · Commercial Architecture

3 Skylight Youth Residence

Intimate and secure: the refurbishment of an old hospital in Maó, Menorca, into a youth residence, restoring its original volume and bringing light into its dark corridors through precise roof openings.

What it teaches: An important aim of the project was the restoration of the original volumetry of the old hospital, which had been completely distorted over the years.

Read the 3 Skylight Youth Residence case study →

Floor plan of the house showing the four pavilions and porches

Housing · Residential Architecture

4 Porches 4 Skylights House

Open and close: a single-family house in Port d’Addaia, Menorca, closed to the outside and open to the inside, with four triangular porches that turn the whole house into one great porch.

What it teaches: The clients asked for a house closed to the outside, but open from the inside.

Read the 4 Porches 4 Skylights House case study →

Section drawing of the new storey with the skylights highlighted

Housing · Residential Architecture

4 Skylights 1 Terrace House

Together and alone: a new storey in a terraced housing block in Mercadal, Menorca, with many skylights, few materials and a corner terrace with pleasant views, built for a mother and her child above her parents’ home.

What it teaches: This new home for a recently divorced woman and her child was built on top of her parents’ residence. The pleasant views from the corner terrace, and the use of many skylights and very few materials (white plaster on walls, continuous cement as pavement and pine wood on windows and doors), generated a clear, luminous and comfortable interior ready to welcome the new dreams of their two young inhabitants. .

Read the 4 Skylights 1 Terrace House case study →

Sources for the facts on this page: the archived portfolio pages and the sources that corroborate them: designboom's Corbera church feature, the ArchDaily office profile, and HomeAdore's 2013 feature. Project photographs are only shown where they come from the project's own records.