A block of flats made of wood in the neighborhood that will transform Girona

GironaIn Girona, near the border between the neighborhoods of Can Gibert del Pla and Santa Eugènia, there stands a very unique apartment block surrounded by a tree-lined park. It is a building made entirely of wood, with checkered and symmetrical shapes, two forty-meter facades, and open galleries on each of the six floors. The block, inaugurated in 2022, is called 6x6 and is the work of the Girona-based studio Bosch Capdeferro, which has received numerous awards for the project's sustainability and energy efficiency values. 

It consists of 35 identical homes, each 70 m², organized around a rectangular and elongated space, without a corridor, with sliding doors that allow for the interchange of uses in each room. All have openings on both sides, and natural light enters all parts of the apartment. This channel-like structure facilitates a cross-ventilation system, which in summer captures the cooler air from the north facade and distributes it to the south. Then in winter, on the sunnier south balcony, the glass and steel create a warm air chamber that helps heat the home. All this is reinforced by an electric air-conditioning system using aerothermal energy: an efficient technology that extracts energy from the outside air to generate heating, cooling, and domestic hot water.

One of the residents of the block is Gemma Estruch, an engineer, owner of one of the ground-floor apartments for the past four years. She is delighted: "The concept of it being completely open works very well for me. And the wood of the exterior and interior walls gives a very warm feeling, a lot of light enters, and, moreover, you can't hear anything at all, it's very insulating," she explains.

"You spend half as much as in a normal flat"

Estruch is very satisfied with the energy efficiency. Although each home behaves differently depending on the height and sunlight, she assures that it has a direct impact on the bill. "Now, in summer, cross-ventilation helps, although, logically, it doesn't work miracles with the temperatures we have and we have to use air conditioning. Then, in winter, the glass balcony heats the apartments a lot and there are families who hardly turn on the heating. You spend half as much as in a normal apartment," she assures. To generate the natural air current, each apartment has different ventilation grilles, so you don't have to open the windows to ventilate or remove bad odors.

In the building, there is also a very good atmosphere among the neighbors, especially with those who arrived as soon as the development came onto the market: "There is a lot of community. At first, everyone would grab their beer and we would meet in the gallery, like in the villages before, or the other day, for example, we got together to celebrate Sant Joan," Estruch continues.

The neighbor arrived at the building without fully knowing the work and the ethical principles of the studio of architects Ramon Bosch and Bet Capdeferro. Once she had the keys, however, as an engineer, she became interested in how the aerothermal system worked and came into contact with the project's ideologues: "At first, as it was all new, we had to solve some problems with the installation of the cold batteries. I met Bet and Ramon and informed myself a lot. As a result, I prepared a dossier to help new neighbors adjust the basic parameters of the system according to their needs," finishes Gemma Estruch.

Concrete generates CO₂ and wood stores it

The 6x6 condenses the entire philosophy and work of architects Bosch and Capdeferro, always concerned with achieving a harmonious triad between architecture, people, and the environment. "This building has allowed us to culminate and put our convictions into practice. It's not about trying to go against the climate, but about working with it. Architecture should be a second skin, a second suit, and as such it must adapt to the changing needs of summer and winter," argues Ramon Bosch.

Furthermore, the two members of the Girona-based studio not only seek to minimize the environmental impact of homes once life begins in them, but also from the embryonic moment of their construction. "The construction sector is responsible for approximately 40% of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, as architects, we have the responsibility to respond to this from the beginning of the process," argues Bosch. And here the choice of wood is fundamental: "Building one cubic meter with concrete generates approximately one ton of CO₂ emissions, while one cubic meter of wood stores one ton of CO₂ captured by the tree during its growth transformed into cellulose. The difference is enormous," assures the architect.

However, out of ignorance, building walls and structures of an apartment block with wood might seem unstable or not very resistant. But nothing could be further from reality: "We are accustomed to trusting buildings made of brick without any brick having passed a test. In contrast, each cross-laminated timber panel has been tested and certified. It is a very reliable technology. We have the stigma of the Three Little Pigs, but this wood is very resistant. And moreover, it retains that almost atavistic quality of living matter, which brings a lot of well-being," argues Bet Capdeferro. And this, in the end, according to the architects, is the most important thing: "Beyond the kilowatt-hour calculations, we want to create memorable, comfortable, and transcendent spaces for people, without ever losing contact with the environment," concludes Capdeferro.

A new public housing development

The 6x6 is the result of a private development driven by a construction company that took a risky bet on this architectural model after the economic crisis. Of the 35 homes, four are officially protected. And the result has been so satisfactory that the public administration wants to continue it. A few meters away, the Girona City Council has launched a new development of 50 officially protected public homes for young people, which will soon be completed. The architectural project has been developed by the Bosch Capdeferro studio, with a very similar typology and the same axes of sustainability and efficiency. All this in a neighborhood in the southwest of the city that in the coming years will undergo a major transformation due to all the urban development planned around the future new Josep Trueta Health Campus.