Mas Ram house

Experimental dwelling prototype MR-1, built in 1971. The first in a series of experimental dwelling prototypes by Alfons Soldevila, Josep Maria Massot and Miguel Donada.

Low-angle interior view of a warm, eclectic space with exposed steel beams, sliding wooden panels opening into a loft area with a ceiling fan. In the ground floor, a wood motorcycle prototype is visible in the background.
Cozy living space with an heterogeneous collection of items, including a large display of cans on the wall, various artworks, plants, and a mix of modern and vintage furniture.
High-angle view of a cozy living area with a wooden staircase, a green pendant light, and a wall adorned with framed art and decorative items. Below you can see a large wooden table.
Cozy living room with a colorful sofa, wooden furniture, indoor plants, and a white pendant light, featuring a staircase and a wall decorated with art and collectibles.
Cozy kitchen with a wooden floor and ceiling, white cabinets, leading to a dining area with a colorful rug, a wooden table, green pendant light, and an open air wooden staircase in the background.
Bathroom with a red bathtub, wooden elements, a floor-to-ceiling window, and a variety of towels hanging below a mirror and a bathroom sink.
Hallway with wooden floors, potted plants, framed pictures on the wall, and soft natural light filtering through floor-to-ceiling windows.
Covered outdoor patio with a translucent coorrugated polycarbonate arched roof, wooden dining table with wicker chairs, plants, and natural light streaming through.
Terraced outdoor area with a translucent arched roof, various potted plants, a wooden dining table with wicker chairs.
Terraced outdoor area with a translucent arched roof, hanging swings, potted plants, and open horizontal pivoting windows.

Residential Architecture Photography: Mas Ram House (MR-1 Prototype)

This architectural interior and exterior photography series documents Mas Ram House, also recognised as the MR-1 Experimental Dwelling Prototype. Built in 1971 in Badalona, Barcelona, this residence was designed by architect Alfons Soldevila alongside collaborators Josep Maria Massot and Miguel Donada. Ahead of its time in sustainable, energy-efficient residential architecture, the home is a study in spatial flexibility, material economy, and structural optimisation.

The photoshoot spotlights the house’s geometric container, multi-level layout, and tactile raw materials as the key features of this landmark experimental prototype.

Documenting Spatial Connections, Lightweight Timber, and Mortar Blocks

The visual storytelling of this experimental residential shoot focuses on a home built around fluid spatial connections and honest construction methods.

  • The 4x16-Meter Container: The house is structured as an elongated rectangular volume, intentionally taller than it is wide. The photography uses medium format film (6x6 cm) and split-level angles to show this depth, capturing how the living spaces, bedrooms, and workspace stack and connect across different heights without rigid partition walls.
  • Structural Material Honesty: A primary focus of the interior images is the raw Ytong mortar blocks used for the 20 cm-thick walls, which serve as structure, thermal insulation, and the final finish. The camera exposures highlight the textured masonry and the horizontal structural belts that support the container.
  • Ship-Like Lightweight Interiors: The flooring systems are lightweight timber decks, only 2.5 cm thick, that function as both floor and ceiling finish. The compositions emphasise these thin planes, wooden staircases, and open pathways, framing an interior that opens naturally toward the garden and a lower studio terrace designed as a solar collector.

Capturing Early Sustainable Design with Technical Rigour

Photographing this experimental, nature-integrated structure requires managing a complex mix of organic textures and changing lighting values. The exterior architecture frames capture the outside living spaces, while inside, orthogonal alignment keeps the continuous mortar block walls and lightweight timber posts perfectly vertical, preventing wide-angle lens distortion across the narrow footprint. By balancing bright sunlight through large glass openings with warm, highly personal interior finishes—decorated with historic blueprints, family drawings, and posters—the photography creates a clear visual archive that honours Alfons Soldevila’s legacy of environmentally aware residential design in Catalonia.