The original space reorganized into four symmetrical 3.5 x 3.5m rooms. The rooms are connected to each other by large central openings, or are expanded through the use of mirrors that extend them spatially.
Materials that undergo a process of abstraction are used: the mirror to blur limits, the linoleum to recall the traditional clay tile, the ceiling finished with plastic enamel, the tile to erase the scale, a piece of marble for the sink and the kitchen cabinet stainless steel.
Hosue Lara by HANGHAR. Photograph by Luis Díaz Díaz
Project description by HANGHAR
The project consists of the renovation of a 65 sqm apartment in a 1970s building in Madrid. In response to the rapid real estate bubble the city is currently in, the home distances itself from market driven logics and offers a flexible system capable of evading prefixed and conventional definitions.
The project is understood as a spatial system indifferent to the site in which is implemented, continuing therefore the spatial investigation firstly carried at Ronda House. The system, conceptually generic whilst physically specific, negates any relationship to perimeter, program nor orientation. Solely the appearance of the home’s original fireplace and the cooking area creates a visual reference that grounds one’s presence in the space.
The original apartment is subdivided into four equal rooms, each measuring 3.5 x 3.5 m, creating a spatial isotropy connected through large, central openings that articulates the home. The placement of mirrored surfaces across the home dilutes the project’s limits and amplifies a spatial system eager to expand itself beyond the physical space in which it is applied.
The material palette is simple and direct. The floor abstracts the traditional clay tile commonly found in homes of the area with a continuous, scaleless red linoleum sheeting. The ceiling, covered in enamel, amplifies the lights and colors present in the home while the cooking area, made out of stainless steel and mirrors simply disappears.
