CASA J J
We have always taken an interest in the flexibility of the apartment buildings in Madrid's center expansion, the Salamanca district. This versatile typology is characterized by facades with rhythmical balconies that illuminate wide spaces of generous height.
The apartment of this defined by mixed structural walls, brick and wood frameworks delimit different spaces parallel to the facade allowing connections between them. When the building courtyards are wide this apartment typology is particularly adaptable: it behaves like an open system, a box rather than a case, where almost everything fits. If in addition, the balconies are enclosed as viewpoints, as in JJ house, this is an opportunity.
The starting point of the project was a flat transformed into an office which we had to return to domestic use, highlighting the adaptation possibilities of these bourgeois houses when breaking from the distribution schemes typical of previous periods. The seriousness of traditional layouts, with noble areas to the façade and the usually hidden service areas to the interior, did not fit the needs of a family that wanted to enjoy the spaces in a different way.
Far from the approach of other projects, the design process was a result of authentic family assembly meetings, where each one unprejudicedly established their tastes and needs, always maintaining a sense of justice and proportion. Integrating the requirements they brought up, we achieved a collage house where colours, geometries and finishes blend in naturally, giving shape to the requests of its residents.
The server areas, kitchen and laundry room, now occupy the transition spaces, the original long corridors. From here, bedrooms, bathrooms and social areas are linked so that natural light can reach all rooms. The apartment has underfloor heating, and maintains the original wooden windows which have been restored to improve their features. Regarding the floors, oak flooring and Huguet cement tiles in the humid areas. The old balcony viewpoint was also restored and acts as a greenhouse with a winter garden, connected to the social area.
