Hulu

Hugo and Luiz’s penthouse apartment on Calle Magdalena in the Lavapiés district of Madrid lacked natural light and was constrained by a construction system of brickwork walls and a wooden structure. This system, so traditional in this neighbourhood, nevertheless made the space a mass of walls and narrow, dark rooms. Reinventing the traditional structure of this type of housing, without hiding it, without condemning it and making it the fundamental concept to be maintained in the project led us to bring out the imposing wooden truss that also marks the area of the upper floor. The distribution becomes more contemporary, leading the kitchen to merge with the main space of the living room – dining room, and a staircase of locksmithing crosses the two floors generating a visual landmark of great plasticity. The zenithal light, achieved by perforating the sloping roof, accompanies the temporality of the living room, which oriented north-south, now receives light throughout the day, especially marking the arrival to the flat and the heart of the house, that multipurpose place that is a dining room, work area, and meeting place. The materials used are more than tight, to focus the strength in the new kitchen, a cheerful pink that contrasts with the solutions, almost industrial, continuous floor and pine panels. The bathroom, narrow and very tight in horizontal, expands in its vertical dimension, creating a daily experience in which the shower receives natural light creating an airy space upwards. The distribution of the open and diaphanous ground floor, is articulated in its variable occupation ( arrival of guests, more or less private activities) by means of a simple curtain of great height and curved trajectory that divides the space when it is necessary, without generating edges.