In the 11th edition of our project week poll, you chose Walden 7—the culmination of Ricardo Bofill’s many years of experimentation in residential architecture. Completed in 1975, the complex was conceived as an entire city within a single building. Half a century later, we can assess how this architectural utopia adapted to everyday life and what time has changed in the original concept.
Walden 7 stands on the site of a former cement factory in Sant Just Desvern, west of Barcelona. Nearby, Ricardo Bofill created La Fábrica—his own studio and residence in the preserved industrial buildings—financing its renovation with proceeds from the apartments sold in the new residential complex.
The name Walden 7 is a direct reference to Walden Two, a novel by American psychologist B. F. Skinner about a self-governing utopian community. Bofill and his team were also searching for an alternative to the conventional apartment building. They wanted to recreate the structure of a city inside the building—with streets, squares, different routes and public spaces.
In earlier projects by Taller de Arquitectura—including Barrio Gaudí, Kafka’s Castle, Xanadú and La Muralla Roja—the architects systematically experimented with modular housing, complex geometry and communal spaces. These explorations evolved into the concept of La Ciudad en el Espacio, or "The City in Space": a dense, multi-level structure combining the diversity of a traditional city with the advantages of an apartment building. Walden 7 became its most complete embodiment.
From the outside, the complex resembles a monolithic red fortress with small windows and semicircular balconies. The building consists of 18 towers, offset from one another. Together, they form a vertical labyrinth of seven interconnected courtyards, open galleries, staircases and walkways with constantly shifting spatial dynamics: narrow passages open onto tall courtyards, bridges cross over voids, and new perspectives appear at almost every turn. The red exterior facades contrast with the intense blue, purple and yellow surfaces inside, creating the feeling of a separate world.
The complex contains 446 apartments. They were assembled from modules of approximately 28 square meters that could be combined horizontally and vertically. As a result, the building contains different types of housing—from small studios to larger and two-level apartments. The partitions between modules were intended to be adapted as residents' needs changed. Courtyards, galleries, terraces and rooftop pools were designed to encourage people to leave their apartments more often, meet their neighbors and feel part of a community.
However, the concept was never fully realized. Some of the planned communal spaces were reduced in order to increase the number of apartments available for sale. Moreover, Walden 7 was supposed to be just one of several similar buildings, but the project ultimately remained a single structure.
Over the course of half a century, the utopia also encountered technical problems. The facades were originally covered with small red ceramic tiles, but over time the tiles began to detach and fall. During the 1993−1995 renovation, most of the cladding was removed and replaced with a painted surface. The original tiles survived only on the balconies.
The renovation altered Walden 7's original appearance but preserved its concept: the complex still functions as a city within a home. Its courtyards, galleries and walkways create a space for community life just beyond the door of every apartment.
Walden 7 did not become a universal model for mass housing, but it demonstrated that an apartment building can function as an independent public space. Over its half-century of existence, the utopia has changed in its details but not in its essence—the complex remains a city in miniature.