A simple, careful, minimal, essential construction can lead us to a good architecture. This renovation project proved it.
Opportunity. The original house was a typical example of rapid design and construction of the city of Madrid in the 1960s. However, we could perceive underneath a real project opportunity.
Process. We combined in one project utopian enthusiasm, a practical approach, a desire for experimentation and a search for materiality. During the process, the house itself was used as a technical office. We lived, enjoyed and altered the space.
The direct experience of the space led us to discover: Spatially: the window as an outstanding element of the house. Constructively: the hidden steel structure.
In addition, we identified and worked with the symbiosis between our academic education and our own subjective experience about the meaning of home.
Proposal. We proposed a generous housing in a reduced space. From subtraction, we eliminated everything that was dispensable. The search for the essential led us to: The red structure that hierarchizes the space; The windows that open to the sky; The wood that brings warmth; The material variety of the white that envelops the whole.
Construction. The precise knowledge of what exists allowed us to intervene appropriately. In search of an honest and careful architecture, we paid special attention to details, to the chosen materiality and to the actors in the project processes.
Our priority was to form a solid team of trades and experts with whom, sharing skills and experience; we developed together every constructive detail achieving optimal solutions that exceed the possibilities of the strictly conventional. The finished construction, as a result, is the witness and reflection of a careful process.
