Architecture firm TAKK was commissioned to design the renovation of a 50 sqm apartment in Barcelona with a small budget of only 10,000 euros for materials, which involved reducing the material palette to a minimal canvas while eliminating the need for coatings such as paint, plaster, tiles, etc.

The aim of the revamp was to transform the classical apartment program into a new way to live with new uses and raise environmental awareness in the context of the current energy crisis and climate change.
TAKK start to work with thermal gradients for the functional and programmatic configuration of the home instead of the usual combination of rooms and corridors and used standard MDF panels and locally sourced natural sheep’s wool giving the design a raw character that exposed the traces of previous partitions, flooring, and electrical appliances.

La rehabilitación optó por organizer los espacios según las características climáticas y ambientales de cada estancia. Las distintas estancias de la casa se encajan unas dentro de otras, como «capas de cebolla», desde las más frías hasta las más cálidas, para aprovechar cada capa de aire y material sin necesidad de aportar energía adicional.

In addition, the renovation focused on increasing the structural elements of the home and used recycled table legs to raise all built elements, allowing plumbing and electrical installations to be routed freely without the need for joints in the walls.


10K House by Takk. Photograph by José Hevia.
 

Project description by TAKK

"10k House" is the refurbishment of a 50m2 flat located in Barcelona with a material execution budget of only 10,000 euros, but with the aim of updating the home towards new models of use and environmental awareness within the framework of the current energy crisis and climate change.

From this apparent dichotomy between the low budget available and the ambition to completely transform the home, the main decisions that articulate the project arise:

1_Work with thermal gradients for the functional and programmatic configuration of the house instead of the most usual through the combination of rooms and corridors. In the new proposal, a distribution is chosen where the climatic and environmental specificity of each space is different. As if it were the layers of an onion, the different spaces of the house are nested inside each other, from the coldest to the hottest, to take advantage of each layer of air and material without having to provide extra energy. This type of distribution, climatically diverse, allows for the unifying of functional programs, climate, and efficiency.

2_Elevation of the built elements of the house using recycled table legs allowing the free passage of water and electricity installations without the need to make grooves on the walls, thus reducing costs and working time.


10K House by Takk. Photograph by José Hevia.

3_Reduction of the material palette to the maximum: materials are chosen that maintains a cost/structural and energy efficiency ratio that is as balanced as possible. In this sense, the main materials used in the construction are standard MDF panels and local natural sheep wool.

4_Elimination of the item for new coatings (paint, plaster, tiles, etc.) after demolition and replacement by a simple thorough cleaning of floors, walls, and ceilings. The traces of the previous partitions, flooring, and electrical appliances are left visible after their demolition, thus saving both in the purchase of new materials and in execution times.
 
5_Hedonistic and playful vision of the bathroom and kitchen spaces that come to occupy the best parts of the house next to the facades. Well-lit and ventilated, they are understood as spaces to be used even in crowds. The kitchen element is understood as a space without associated gender. An open kitchen configuration encourages equitable use of its space by different members of the house regardless of their gender. The materiality of the kitchen is not different from that of the rest of the house, reinforcing this integration.


10K House by Takk. Photograph by José Hevia.

6_Self-construction. A reform exclusively made through "dry" assembly work is proposed that allows the incorporation of "non-experts" in its construction process. As if it were a piece of furniture, the different parts of the house (walls, ceilings, pillars) arrive at the site previously cut using CNC technology from the plans drawn by the architecture studio. Once on site, and simply using standard screws, they are assembled by the architects and the client according to a small instruction manual without the need for specialists.

More information

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Architects
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TAKK. Lead architects.- Mireia Luzárraga + Alejandro Muiño.
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Area
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50m².
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Dates
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2022.
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Venue / Localitation
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Barcelona, Spain.
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Budget
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€10,000
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Photography
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José Hevia.
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Takk (Mireia Luzárraga + Alejandro Muiño) is a space for architectural production focused on the development of experimental and speculative material practices in the intersection between nature and culture in the contemporary framework, with a special attention on the overcoming of anthropocentrism on its different ways (political, ecological, cultural, ​on gender...), and also on the definition of new notions of beauty through the articulation of the difference by assembling a multiplicity of materials from different origins and conditions, paying attention both to their physical properties and to their symbolic associations.

Mireia Luzárraga (Madrid, 1981) and Alejandro Muiño (Barcelona, 1982) are architects since 2008 graduated with honours for Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM-UPM) and Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura del Vallés (ETSAV-UPC) respectively and M.Arch. Architects for Universidad Internacional de Cataluña (ESARQ-UIC).

Their work has been awarded and distinguished in several national and international competitions. Some of them are: Fad Award on Architecture 2011 for the Project The walls Are Coming Down (2011) on the Ephemeral Interventions Group, Fad Award on Architecture Shortlisted for the Project Dreamhouse (2013), and they have been catalogued on the two last editions of the Arquia Próxima Award for architects under 40 in Spain. Besides, Takk has been awarded with the first Price for the built projects Paradís (2012) and Dreamhouse (2013), has won an Honourable Mention in the 1st Award on Social Architecture of the Konecta Foundation 2012 for the project Suitcase House, and has been invited to participate on the Open Innovation Platform in the Spanish Pavilion on the XIII International Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2012. Their work has been distinguised in national and international platforms such as Europan or Pasajes-iGuzzini and it has been published in magazines such as OnDiseño, D+A, Pasajes de Arquitectura y Crítica, AV Proyectos, Arquitectura COAM or Arquine among others. They have been exhibited at the Centre de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona (CCCB), the International Art Fair ARCOmadrid, the Cultural Center las Cigarreras at Alicante, and the FAD (Fomento del Arte y del Diseño).

Additionally to this profesional practice, Takk is developing a framework in the field of research and teaching. Mireia Luzárraga and Alejandro Muiño are teachers in the Projects Department of the Universidad de Alicante (UA), on the Instituto Europeo di Design in Madrid (IED Madrid), and Master Tutors in the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia in Barcelona(IAAC). They have also participated as teachers in different workshops and summer schools and have explained their work in several lectures internationally.

At the present time, Mireia and Alejandro combine their profesional and teaching labour with the development of their respective PhD Thesis on the politics of ornament and self sufficient micro-communities. They have been granted for them with the scholarship “Junior Faculty – La Caixa”.
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Published on: February 1, 2023
Cite: "The idea of a climatic and environmental onion. 10K House by Takk " METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/idea-a-climatic-and-environmental-onion-10k-house-takk> ISSN 1139-6415
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