The house is built on three floors that are connected by a central staircase that articulates and organizes the void to which the interior rooms overturn. These, in turn, connect at certain points with the outdoor spaces, so that the staircase becomes the nerve center of the house.
OG House by FRPO. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero).
Project description by FRPO
Colonia Leonesa was a group of low houses built at the beginning of the 1950s in the madrilean eastern District of Hortaleza. For years, its sunny houses and gardens withstood the pressure of Greater Madrid, whose highlight was the opening of the Gran Vía de Hortaleza. Today, Colonia Leonesa is an area of lower density in an environment of large blocks, which makes it still incredibly attractive.
The project occupies one of the few corners of the Colonia, facing south, with views towards the golden domes of the Russian-Orthodox Church of the Magdalena. The building regulations calls for the completion of a compact volume surrounding a small backyard. The project solves a single-family program on three floors. The staircase becomes the center of the house, organizing a void into which the study-library and the entrance turn. The living room connects the two outdoor spaces - the backyard and the corner garden. The ground floor uses the lower-level street to host a spacious garage.
The house façade is smooth and sophisticated, by means of champagne-colored aluminum folded trays over a stone basis, used as well to finish the floors. The openings are built using folded sheet metal frames in the same color, simplifying the carpentry-shutter-ledge in a single element. In the afternoon, the house emits soft golden reflections on the Colonia Leonesa.
