Sornells 21
Ausiàs Pérez of T.O.T Studio and Paloma Bau open the doors to Sornells 21, their shared studio in the Valencian neighborhood of Ruzafa, transforming a former commercial unit into a creative workspace inspired by the urban imagination of Tokyo. The intervention combines a strong conceptual narrative with a carefully executed material strategy, shaping a place where design, community and creativity converge.
At number 21 Sornells Street—one of the pedestrian routes linking Valencia’s Ruzafa Market with the surrounding residential fabric—T.O.T, the studio led by designer Ausiàs Pérez, and Paloma Bau present a new workspace conceived to host their respective teams as well as a small community of creative professionals.
The project occupies a 170 sqm U-shaped premises with dual street access and emerges from a collaboration that developed organically: Pérez’s return to the city and Paloma Bau’s search for a new studio. More than a strategic partnership, it represents a shared desire to create an environment where different disciplines, methodologies and languages can coexist, and where architecture and design actively foster encounters and spontaneous synergies.
Context and concept
From the outset, T.O.T led the conceptual development of the project, while Paloma Bau’s team took charge of its architectural materialization. This division reflects the essence of both practices: the speculative and strategic nature of T.O.T, and Paloma Bau’s ability to translate concepts into tangible form through matter, geometry and detail.
The starting point was a simple but powerful idea: to reinterpret some of the founders’ favorite everyday places in Tokyo and translate their atmosphere into a flexible workspace in Valencia. Rather than literal theming, the project offers an architectural interpretation of three recognizable Japanese urban situations: the ceramic-tiled street, the izakaya bar, and the relaxed environment of the onsen.
The arrival sequence is conceived as the project’s conceptual threshold. The entrance reproduces the material logic of many urban architectures in Tokyo, where white 10×10 ceramic tiles wrap entire façades. Here, the same tile forms a clean, almost exterior-like threshold, reinforced by a large ceiling mirror that doubles the space and alters its proportions. This device creates the sensation that the visitor is still outdoors even after entering, blurring the boundary between street and studio. A solid white concrete bench introduces one of the project’s recurring materials, anticipating its structuring role throughout the space.
Space and organization
Beyond this threshold, the space is organized around its central element: a large bar that runs through the U-shaped plan. Made of black-tinted MDF (colored in mass to preserve the material’s natural texture), this piece structures both uses and circulation. The bar functions simultaneously as coworking workspace, display surface and social hub.
The central section incorporates a 7.20-metre-long partially cantilevered table, resolved with a steel structure, black San Vicente stone and a sculptural white block leg. Designed to seat nearly twenty people, this table also acts as the key element that allows the studio to transform easily into a dining space, tasting area, presentation venue or professional meeting setting.
In addition, the perimeter white block benches and a continuous rail system installed throughout the space allow the studio to function as an exhibition area, enabling the flexible and continuous display of objects and graphic work.
Running above the bar is a bespoke longitudinal luminaire designed specifically for the project, inspired by Noren—the traditional textile curtains that mark the thresholds of Japanese taverns and shops. Suspended along the full length of the bar, this light introduces a horizontal rhythm that reinforces the scale of the space and contributes to its warm, contained atmosphere.
One of the project’s most singular decisions is the placement of the kitchen outside the bar, inverting the conventional logic of an izakaya. To resolve this apparent contradiction, a mirror has been placed opposite the kitchen, reflecting the cook and symbolically returning their presence to the interior of the bar. Together with the mirror at the entrance, this gesture forms part of a broader perceptual game that runs throughout the project, where subtle inversions of the expected order generate unexpected yet coherent spatial situations.
The second conceptual realm of the project is in one of the original recesses of the premises and functions as a meeting room. Inspired by the atmosphere of the onsen, this space deliberately breaks with the studio’s general sobriety. Accessed via a small stair concealed within the kitchen paneling, a glimpse of a Klein blue door anticipates the change in mood. One of the perimeter tatami elements acts as a threshold and is complemented by a granite piece, referencing traditional Japanese domestic entrances. Inside,
the chromatic intensity, shower-head luminaires, mirrors with bath-area handrails, and a false skylight incorporating a small planter create a more playful and experimental image. A neon sky ironically replaces the customary Mount Fuji often found in onsen imagery.
Beyond the element of surprise, the adjacent bathrooms—finished in an intense red—reinforce the contrast and introduce a slightly provocative note to the overall narrative.
Materiality
The material strategy follows a logic of coherence and repetition, characteristic of Paloma Bau’s work. Light microcement flooring unifies the entire sequence and provides homogeneous luminosity. The sprayed cellulose ceiling functions as a technical and sound-absorbing plane, leaving raw installations and curtain rails exposed, allowing the space to be subdivided with textile elements. The curved lines of these rails introduce a more dynamic, nuanced reading, subtly breaking the overall order of the space. Perimeter white block tatami elements allow for sitting, informal meetings or event use, and in some areas also function as planters, reinforcing the idea of an active, multi-layered space. Work furniture—tables, kitchen units and storage—is resolved in raw MDF through a simple, clean construction system designed to coexist with the fixed elements and the space’s exhibition character. All bespoke pieces were manufactured by the Valencian firm Lebrel Furniture.
Lighting and furniture
The lighting design combines technical fixtures by Arkoslight—a brand frequently present in the studio’s projects—with decorative rice-paper lamps and specific solutions such as the stainless-steel luminaire developed for T.O.T. This balance between technical precision and diffused warmth creates an atmosphere that is both controlled and welcoming.
The furniture, largely custom-designed, integrates seamlessly into the project’s material narrative and reinforces its flexible vocation, enabling simultaneous uses and natural transitions without altering the space’s core structure.
A multifunctional creative space
Sornells 21 is not only an architecture and design studio. It is a new space in Valencia conceived for working, collaborating, meeting and celebrating. Its spatial and material configuration allows multiple uses to coexist without complex transformations. Architecturally, it strengthens the idea of a creative community, transforming an irregularly shaped premises into a flexible stage
where professional daily life merges with shared encounters and collective moments.
