Simon SWITCH: Industrial Rehabilitation in Barcelona

Barcelona's 22@ district is the city's former industrial zone, now being transformed block by block into a technology and innovation quarter. Most of the conversions involve demolition. The Simon SWITCH Building, rehabilitated by b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos, takes the opposite approach. It keeps the mid-century concrete frame, strips it back, replaces the facade, and inserts a contemporary workplace inside the old bones. The result is a LEED Platinum office building that looks new from the street and old from the inside, which is exactly the right way around.

The project is the headquarters of Simon, a Spanish electrical and lighting company. The building needed to work as a corporate office, a product showroom, an auditorium, and a public-facing brand space, all within a structure that was never designed for any of those things.

The Facade: Vertical Fins and Urban Presence

The most visible change is the new facade. The original sills and infill panels were removed and replaced with a system of vertical concrete fins and floor-to-ceiling glazing. The fins create a rhythm that is visible from blocks away. They provide solar shading on the east and west facades, frame views from inside, and give the building a civic presence that the original industrial envelope never had.

At street level, the ground floor is fully glazed, creating a transparent base that connects the showroom to the pavement and the mature street trees. The building addresses the corner confidently, which matters in the Eixample grid where corner buildings define the character of each block.

Exposed Structure: The Concrete Frame as Interior

Inside, the original concrete frame is left exposed: columns, beams, and the dramatic pitched trusses on the top floor are all raw and visible. The ductwork, cable trays, and services run openly beneath the beams. This is not industrial chic. It is genuine industrial structure, cleaned and lit, doing its original job while hosting a new programme.

The contrast between the raw concrete above and the warm timber, leather, and wool below creates a layered atmosphere. The furniture is soft and contemporary. The ceiling is hard and historical. The two registers work together because neither pretends to be the other.

The Showroom and Blue Light

The ground floor houses Simon's product showroom. The lighting is the product, so the showroom uses it: blue LED strips along the exposed steel beams, spot fixtures on the concrete columns, and a glowing blue atmosphere that is visible from the street at night. This is the building's public face after dark. The blue light makes the ground floor a billboard without signage.

The Courtyard and Rooftop

Behind the main block, an internal courtyard is covered with a glass-and-steel canopy. Climbing plants on wires will eventually green the columns. Trees grow at the base. The courtyard provides daylight to the deep plan and a sheltered outdoor space for events.

The rooftop terrace has olive trees, planting, parasols, and outdoor furniture. From up here, you can see Torre Agbar and the broader 22@ skyline. It is a usable social space, not a mechanical plant roof with a viewing platform bolted on.

The Top Floor: Amphitheatre Under the Trusses

The top floor is the spatial highlight. The original pitched roof trusses are fully exposed, creating a cathedral-scale volume. A wide timber amphitheatre with stepped seating fills one end, facing a wall of full-height glazing. It functions as an auditorium, a presentation space, and an informal gathering area. The trusses, which were hidden behind a false ceiling for decades, are now the defining feature of the room.

Workplace Interiors

The typical office floors are open-plan with acoustic ceiling panels, full-height glazing, and privacy pods along the facade. The furniture is restrained: round timber tables, upholstered chairs, floor lamps. The vertical louvres outside filter the light and create a gentle rhythm of shadow across the floor plates.

Plans, Sections, and Elevation

The site plan shows the building within Barcelona's Eixample grid. The ground floor plan reveals the transparent showroom, the courtyard with trees, and the stair core. The typical floor plans show open-plan workspaces wrapping the core. The sections cut through the courtyard canopy and the pitched-roof amphitheatre.

Why This Project Matters

Industrial rehabilitation in Barcelona's 22@ is becoming the dominant building type for the district's transformation. Most projects gut the structure and start over. The Simon SWITCH Building proves that keeping the frame, exposing it, and wrapping it in a new facade produces a richer result. The concrete trusses on the top floor are worth more than any new ceiling could be. The raw columns on the office floors give the workspace a character that a new building would take twenty years to develop.

If you are working on industrial rehabilitation, adaptive reuse of concrete-frame buildings, or corporate headquarters that need to balance brand identity with heritage, this is one of the most complete recent examples.

About the Studio

Share Your Own Work on uni.xyz

If you are working on adaptive reuse, industrial rehabilitation, or office design, uni.xyz is a place to publish your work and connect with a global design community.

Project credits: Simon SWITCH Building by b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos. Barcelona, Spain. LEED Platinum. Photographs: José Hevia.