ARQ_ARNAU RIU LÓPEZ

June 2025

Master’s Final Project

UPCCommons

The Master’s Thesis, The Urban Factory, falls within the program’s urban planning track and was developed as part of the studio focusing on the transformation and consolidation of the Besòs River area.
Drawing from its industrial heritage and the historical role it has played in the development of Barcelona, the project proposes a strategy that seeks to preserve the existing productive fabric while opening it up to the city and providing it with a new urban dimension.
The proposal understands that the industrial warehouse can evolve beyond its original use, becoming a hybrid facility where production—reinterpreted through workshops, laboratories, and innovation spaces—coexists with new programs: education, housing, commerce, and local services. This functional mix allows industrial activity to lose its exclusive character and become part of a broader ecosystem, connected to the daily life of the neighborhood and the metropolitan city. The project relates directly to the historical axes leading towards the river, reclaiming ancient paths and streams as urban connectors.
The Urban Factory is established as a key piece within a territory read through its relationship with water, creating a dialogue between the fluvial landscape, built heritage, and new social and productive dynamics. Thus, The Urban Factory is not merely an architectural renovation, but a proposal for urban regeneration that interprets the Besòs as the foundation for a model capable of integrating memory, activity, and public space, projecting the future of the river and its surroundings from a contemporary perspective.

June 2024

Bachelor’s Thesis

UPCCommons

This Bachelor’s Thesis was developed during an academic exchange in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, during the 2022–2023 academic year. The work focuses on the analysis of urban commerce on Rua 25 de Março, a street located in the center of São Paulo and recognized as one of the city’s main popular commercial hubs.
Based on field explorations conducted during the stay and a review of secondary sources, the project constructs a narrative aimed at exploring the complexity of the street from the perspective of its various commercial establishments, highlighting the characteristics that define it and differentiate it from other urban spaces. First, it analyzes the relationship between the popular commercial street and the general structure of the city, with the goal of providing a broader perspective on its role within the urban context of São Paulo.
Subsequently, the work delves into the study of four commercial typologies present on Rua 25 de Março —the shop, the market, the shopping gallery, and street vending— exploring how these interact with the architectural space, urban dynamics, and the relationships established between them.
The project expresses a special interest in understanding and explaining the city through drawing, used as a tool for analysis and representation. The work shows a particular sensitivity in constructing the universe of the street through drawing and graphics, as instruments capable of capturing the intensity, the overlapping of uses, and the complexity of urban scenarios.

This Bachelor’s Thesis was awarded a grade of «Excellent» (Honors) by the university and received the AJAC Award for Bachelor’s Thesis in its 14th edition, in 2025.

June 2022

PROJECTS VI

The project intervenes in the former Can Trinxet textile factory in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, an area deeply rooted in its industrial past. The proposal adopts a strategy of «pure recycling,» where every material removed from the building—such as roof sheeting, floor concrete, or vault ceramics—is repurposed and returned in a new form, allowing the factory to transform while preserving its historical layers.
Central to the intervention is the recovery of the Canal de la Infanta’s original path to transform the site into a draining space where vegetation can grow freely and water can complete its natural cycle for irrigation. Furthermore, the project anticipates the future burial of the R2 and R4 railway lines, integrating the building as an extension of a new linear green space known as «the factory of the park». While the central nave is designed as a flexible space with «no program» to enhance the park experience, the remaining two naves are dedicated to facilities requested by the local community.

June 2022

URBANISM IV

The Montsolís industrial estate, strategically located between Barcelona and Sant Adrià del Besòs, emerges as a nerve center thanks to its position next to the river and its excellent public and private transport connections with the metropolis. The project proposes an urban regeneration strategy based on mixed-use as a tool to extend the neighborhood’s boundaries and breathe new life into it, incorporating new programs and a diverse population with the goal of turning the area into a motor of transformation for the entire region.
The proposal is based on a careful reading of the existing environment, especially the footprints left by industrial complexes and the current road network. Based on this analysis, the RGB project structures the intervention by «domesticating» three key vertical axes —Carrer del Ferrocarril, Carrer Balmes, and Ronda Litoral— to which a specific character is assigned, symbolically associated with the colors red, green, and blue. This strategy allows for the differentiation of uses and intensities while building a clear and coherent reading of the whole.
Carrer del Ferrocarril —on the left and associated with green— is reimagined as a vibrant and dynamic space, with large green areas and new housing that encourage interaction between the local community and visitors. Carrer Balmes —in the center and identified with red— adopts a primarily service-oriented profile, with offices and workshops that host the neighborhood’s economic activity and reinforce its productive character. Finally, the Ronda Litoral —on the right and in blue— is conceived as an active strip linked to the river, with access points, facilities, and green spaces intended for recreation and a direct relationship with the fluvial landscape.

January 2022

PROJECTS V

This project was developed within the framework of the 4th-year studio, focusing on the proposal for a new Agricultural Interpretation Center at Pla del Colomer, located in the Llobregat Agricultural Delta. The exercise stems from a reflection on architectural placement within an environment of high productive and scenic value, where the preservation of agricultural land is a central concern.
In contrast to conventional extensive models based on a continuous ground floor that occupies and eliminates farmland, this project presents a radical proposal: concentrating the program vertically through a tower that frees up the soil and minimizes the impact on the territory. This decision maintains the visual continuity of the agricultural plain and reinforces the horizontal reading of the landscape.
The ground floor is conceived as an open space without an interior program, ensuring the continuity of the greenery and allowing for the flooding of the terrain during heavy rains without affecting the building’s interior. This strategy responds to both environmental criteria and a commitment to integrating with the natural dynamics of the delta.
The project shows a specific interest in structural design as an expressive element, placed on the exterior and finished in a red color that creates a strong contrast with the green of the agricultural landscape. The building is organized around a 200m2 floor plan and spans six levels, creating a clear and recognizable vertical landmark within the territory’s horizon.

June 2021

PROJECTS IV

The Dichotomy project, developed within the framework of the 3rd-year housing workshop, proposes a low-density exercise that seeks to consolidate a set of empty plots in a rural setting. The intervention is located in Pla de la Font, a Francoist colonization village in the Lleida plain, and stems from the desire to understand the urban and constructive logics of this type of settlement to propose a contemporary domestic architecture rooted in the place.
The project proposes the grouping of different family units within the same plot, with the aim of fragmenting it through a network of internal paths that generate a sequence of rich and flexible intermediate spaces. This structure allows for overcoming a unitary reading of the plot and encourages diverse relationships between the dwellings, the outdoors, and the shared spaces.
The spatial organization is built upon the arrangement of «hard cores» made of thermal clay (termoarcilla) that concentrate the main services of the home. These elements act as structural pieces that organize the plot, define the pathways, and support a more open and adaptable architecture, capable of evolving with the needs of the different family units.
Thus, the project explores the dichotomy between materials and the spatial configurations they generate. The final submission captures the last stage of the process, where a dialogue has been established between the more rigid world of the walls and the built-in thermal clay elements, and the light, free, and dynamic wooden roof that completes the configuration of the domestic space.