NEVER TOO SMALL: Architects' Flexible Three Balcony 1860’s Apartment, Madrid 55sqm/592sqft

The apartment is nestled within Madrid's Old Town, in the Barrio de las Letras neighborhood. We liked that it was an old building and that the apartment had a lot of flexibility and light. For us to have a lot of natural light was one of our main requirements. Also, it had to be flexible and adapt to our chaotic lives. The apartment was intended to be solely our own residence. But it has become our office as well. My name is Patricia Carrasco and I’m Ricardo Mancho We are architects and founders of Tra.ma a small architectural office based in Madrid and Canary Islands. We are also the owners of this apartment. The neighborhood consists mostly of pedestrian streets Lined with 3 to 5 story residential buildings. It is a neighborhood that is highly urban and open to tourism, but it still retains the sense of being a small town. This building dates back to the 1860s. It's a typical Corrala, found Madrid. Corralas are small housing units arranged around a communal patio. Historically, some of them were even used as public theaters around the city. We stumbled upon this place while looking for a house for one of our clients. He rejected it, but for us, as soon as we saw this place we felt like this will be our home. There was a lot of dining and living room with three balconies. The kitchen was in the corner of the apartment, next to it was the bathroom and the bedroom. The first thing we did was to remove as many walls as we could. The bathroom was moved to the old kitchen. We placed the kitchen into the open living and dining area. The bedroom stayed in the same location. You enter the apartment through the original door. There is a cabinet with some books and art. The cabinets are made up of three double IKEA storage units and one single unit. The single unit also doubles as a seat when putting on shoes. There is a narrow corridor with a big mirror on one side, which makes you feel like you are in a bigger space. The end of the corridor, splits into the living area and the bedroom. The living room is a large open area that is shared with the dining and kitchen. Above the sofa, we added some floating shelves. It allows us to store books and plants without taking up additional floor space. We make most of the pots for the interior plants using concrete and other cement-like materials that are leftover from worksites. The construction materials that we have around the living area are pieces that we find from our projects. For example, the coffee table was a piece of marble we found from a work site. We added some recycled legs and it has been a great table for the living room. We like the Serif TV, because when we have yoga sessions it's very easy to move it and put it in the bedroom. The kitchen is at the end of the open living area. A mirror splashback adds interesting views and reflections to the kitchen. We added open shelving above the counter space because we wanted to show our beautiful plates and glasses. it also makes it easier to find the things you need. The cabinets and doors are finished with oak, and are from IKEA. We integrated the fridge and dishwasher to keep the space looking clean. The thin countertop is porcelanic by Dekton. Ricardo hates lighting from the ceiling as they are often quite boring and cold. So we used IKEA bowls to make them more cozy and interesting. For the lighting, we added a Nemo’s Le Corbusier lamp on the wall. The apartment was intended to be solely our own residence. but it has become our office as well. Our idea was to design a place that reflects our simple and creative lifestyle. In a bright calm and flexible space. During the week, there are 4 to 5 people working here. The 3 balconies bring in a lot of light. We have turned them into our small urban garden. For the balcony in the middle We had a small table to have coffee in the morning. The balconies have curtains on the outside to protect the house and the plants from the summer sun. Because there is a gap between the curtains It still has good airflow, and light can still come through. The wall between the kitchen and bathroom has a large window. It lets the light pass through and makes the space feel brighter. There is a curtain that it starts from the dressing space and moves through the bedroom. It isolates the most intimate area of the apartment So you can have a shower or change your clothes in privacy. We originally planned to add a door in the bedroom, But in the end, when we were designing the space, we realized that we liked the circular flow. The dressing area has a large floor to ceiling wardrobe. It contains more of our clothes and household items as well as the washing machine. The bathroom cabin contains both the toilet and the shower. The showerheads can be turned on at the same time to allow two people to use the shower simultaneously. It has a large glass panel that allows natural light to come in. Instead of hiding the sink, we decided to turn it into a feature in this area of the apartment. We are doing this to improve the spaciousness of the house. Behind the sink we added a wall of artisanal ceramic tiles On the side, we have space to store everyday items. The sleeping area can be accessed from the entrance corridor and from the living area. Originally there was a part of the ceiling which had a storage space. We didn’t need it all, so we decided to remove most of it to make the bedroom more spacious. There is a bed lamp hanging from the top of the wall. The cabinets are arranged in the room to make the most of the available space. They're from IKEA, but since they are visible from all sides, we decided to customize the front with oak lines. Which is the material very present in the house. The bed can lift up for extra storage. The floor we chose, it's made of natural rubber and the blue part of the floor, It was a mistake in... we originally plan to have white finish throughout the apartment, but there was an issue during the construction and we couldn't access to more white floor. So we then decided to create a triangle shape that plays with the angle the kitchen already had. It turned out quite well. The best way to face a small space, we think that is to open it. to remove as many walls as possible. So every, every meter counts as a bigger space. We think that it was worth sacrificing some privacy in order to have better light and more space. The biggest win of living in a city is the density it offers. We are always close to the market, the art galleries, or our friends. and we are always excited to explore the city. Thanks for watching. And if you're an architect or designer with a project we could feature, please share it with us at NeverTooSmall.com/submissions

Channel: NEVER TOO SMALL

Views: 692,771

Keywords: Do it yourself, Apartment, micro apartment, architecture, architect, interior, design, designer, renovation, idea, storage, kitchen, tiny, small, bedroom, bathroom, living, smart, planning, city, window, sliding door, colour, transform, mirror, studio apartment, small apartment design, interior design, home space saving ideas, small apartment tour, home decor tiny home, apartment makeover, best interior design, decorating, Spain, Madrid, balcony, Ikea, oak

Id: LWqjO1Hlp1I

Length: 9min 4sec (544 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2024