The apartment is in the old town of Sevilla in Spain. Our clients themselves frequently
travel around Europe in their camper van, which influenced our design approach. The concept was to create
a single piece of furniture that would run along the entire side
of the house and serve as a storage, freeing up as much space
as possible for flexibility. The clients were looking for a flexible space
to use as a home office, a space to do yoga and exercise, to
to play the keyboard, and at the same time be able to host guests
when they come to visit. My name is Javier Salvador,
and I am Yago García. And we are architects
and founders of HEIMAT studio. Sevilla is the second largest
historic city in the world. It is a city with a strong influence
of Roman and Arab architecture, with narrow streets
and 3 or 4 storey buildings The facade of this apartment
building faces a small south facing square, making it
something really special. Everyone is really friendly,
like a small community. This apartment was built in 1970s
with mainly families and young workers. The flat was in very poor condition. The layout consisted of small boxes
making three really tiny bedrooms and a dark and elongated
living room and corridor. It also comes with small storage or laundry room on the rooftop of the building. We demolished two bedrooms,
creating a single space for kitchen, dining room and living room. So the spaces most used during the day were turned towards the south facade. The kitchen was replaced by the flexible
room, which is open most of the time. Eliminating the feeling
of a corridor in the house. Once you enter the apartment,
there is a wall made from birch plywood with a full height storage cardboard
with push to open hidden doors where the client can put coats and shoes. The floor is covered in the same large cement
stone tiles throughout the apartment, which looks great against the white
and the Birchwood of the apartment. The living room, kitchen and dining room are in
one open space. In the living room, we placed a sofa and the lounge chair near the balcony
so that when the balcony door is open, the living space
extend to the outdoor area. We decided to change
all the original double lift windows. and replace them by single ones
made of natural iroko wood. So the clients have less obstructed views
through the windows. And a better access to the small balcony
with plants, maintaining a bit of the Andalusian tradition,
to have these small oases in the houses. Next to the balcony door, we have a low storage
unit. It's an old piece of wardrobe
that the owner upcycled and turned it into a storage unit
where the client placed their record player. and record collection. It’s the postman, yeah. Opposite the living area, we designed one large
kitchen unit that fills the whole wall. It's packed with storage and the kitchen bench extends into the dining area. Adjacent to the kitchen window, floor
to ceiling storage creates
a space like a walk in pantry. So the client, when they are
in the living room, they don't see the mess. The kitchen top and the island is made 90% of white quartz and 10% resin. We decided to put the kitchen island in the middle
in order to have a central space where you can have a breakfast,
maybe, quickly dinner, but also like a central point of the house
when you have guests. Yeah. So you can socialize there. The dining nook comes with storage below. And above the bench. Three shelves were left open for clients to display their favorite things To make the dining nook cozier,
and to make the whole unit look like one large piece of furniture,
we installed floor to ceiling birch plywood at the corner of the wall. The dining table is from LUFE, a Spanish company, and it's made of Spanish local pine
chosen by the client themselves. The yellow hanging lamp above
the table is from Ikea to add a bit of color. Next to the living room, we have what we call the flexible space. Most of the time this area functions
as an extension of the living room. Sometimes it can be used as an office
when the clients are working from home, or it can also be transformed
into a guest bedroom with a folding bed. We hide the curtain in a curved hidden rail. The curtain is actually made
by the homeowner's mother using old curtains that they have. The curtain provides
privacy and light protection But if you don't need it, you can still keep a really big open
space in the apartment. The bedroom is near the entrance. We tried to keep the bedroom quite simple, using the same birch plywood
throughout the apartment to create a large wardrobe
for the clients. One section of the wardrobe has 60cm deep storage
where clients can store bulky items such as clothing, luggage,
or large belongings. Instead of using door knobs
we opted for cutouts as it creates a visually cleaner look. The interesting part of the bedroom is the south facing
window, aligned with the kitchen window and the window at the front of
the apartment, so you can see all the way through to the facade of the
building opposite the street. Behind one of the hidden wooden doors
at the entrance is the bathroom. The same floor tiles continue seamlessly from the rest of the apartment,
except for the shower area. The vanity
and toilets are floating over the ground, creating the sense of more floor. We covered the shower wall with ivory
and blue tiles, making a frame
as you enter in the bathroom. This is a gentle reference to the Andalusian tiling tradition. We created a niche for storing gel and shampoo bottles. In Sevilla, it’s quite common
to have storage on the rooftop where they do the laundry
so they can wash the clothes and after that
they can hang their clothes on the lines and because it's a city with a lot of sun in one hour,
you can have your, clothes completely dry. One of the keys to designing a
small home is to create a space that's flexible
and can serve multiple functions. By combining uses and maximizing
the space, you can make your everyday life
more comfortable and enjoyable rather than having separate, independent
areas. One of the strategies is
to use the fewer materials as possible. So you can always give to the client a neutral space, and
they are going to fill it with colour, plants, personal items. Yeah, it's like, giving the clients a versatile canvas to express themselves and shape as their lives change and grow. Thanks for watching. If you’re an architect or designer with a project we could feature,
please share it with us at nevertoosmall.com/submissions.
