A century-old warehouse in the historic center of Avinyonet de Puigventós, Spain, has been transformed into Forn Lleva't, an artisanal bakery that breathes new life into the town's bread-making traditions. The 70-square-meter renovation project, completed in 2025 by Quim Olea · Estudi d'Arquitectura, represents more than just a commercial renovation – it's a cultural revival that restores the social and economic role of traditional bakeries in small Spanish communities.
The project approached the existing structure on Carrer dels Fossos as a "living material archive," where architects chose to listen and interpret rather than impose modern design concepts. The renovation preserves the building's original stone walls, irregular surfaces, and the natural patina that comes with age, creating an architecture that reveals rather than conceals the building's rich history.
The design unfolds as a carefully orchestrated sequence of three interconnected spaces, each with distinct characteristics yet forming a cohesive spatial narrative. The main area, positioned at the corner between Carrer dels Fossos and Carrer Bellaire, features a large open volume supported by a single central column and covered by three ceramic vaults combined with a concrete beam-and-slab ceiling. This generous space serves as both the physical and symbolic heart of the bakery, accommodating essential activities like kneading, shaping, and baking while maintaining transparency that makes the craft process visible from the street.
The architectural intervention treats the bread-making process as a public performance, turning everyday artisanal work into a shared and transparent ritual that connects the community with traditional food production methods. From this central workshop, the design transitions into a second, narrower bay featuring a ceramic half-vault that contains the fermentation chamber and auxiliary work zones, ensuring natural functional flow through continuity of materials and proportions.
The spatial sequence concludes with a third area accessible from Carrer Bellaire, slightly wider than the middle section and roofed by a stone and lime-mortar half-vault. This final space accommodates storage and sanitary facilities – essential logistical elements that maintain operational efficiency without disrupting the project's carefully considered spatial rhythm.
Throughout the renovation, the architects demonstrated deep respect for the existing structure by preserving and highlighting original elements rather than replacing them. The team cleaned and repointed existing materials to reveal their authentic essence, creating a quiet collaboration between old and new architectural elements.
New design elements were introduced through a language of constructive honesty and material restraint. The continuous polished concrete floor, subtly tinted in earthy tones, provides visual unity and warmth throughout the space. The walls feature a two-band articulation: a lower section of large-format ceramic pieces extending up to 90 centimeters high for durability and easy cleaning, topped by an upper band of small white glazed tiles reaching two meters high that enhance brightness and elevate the daily gestures of bread-making.
The building's relationship with the street remains preserved through maintained openings fitted with new dark-stained wooden carpentry that harmonizes with the overall material palette. The main entrance functions as a convertible window-door, serving dual purposes as both a sales counter and threshold that blurs the traditional boundary between interior and exterior spaces.
The interior layout follows circular logic around the central column, ensuring intuitive workflow patterns free of operational crossings. Mobile beechwood tables provide flexibility for different production needs, while fixed stainless-steel elements organize cleaning and support areas with professional efficiency. The oven, strategically placed beneath the concrete slab, anchors the space both functionally and symbolically, its location permitting a discreet technical ceiling while preserving the purity of the historic vaulted volumes.
Ultimately, Forn Lleva't represents an architecture of service – one that refines existing conditions rather than inventing entirely new ones, collaborating with history rather than imposing contemporary solutions. Through material sincerity, spatial clarity, and deep contextual empathy, the project successfully transforms a modest warehouse into a vibrant place of production, community encounter, and cultural memory. By bringing the ancient act of bread-making back to street level and public view, the renovation reactivates collective village life while reaffirming architecture's fundamental power to sustain cultural heritage, transmit traditional knowledge, and strengthen community bonds in an increasingly globalized world.
