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    Tactile materials “accentuate the value of shadows” in Bolívar House

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    Spanish architect Juan Gurrea Rumeu used a palette of warm, textural materials and carefully positioned voids to create atmospheric living spaces inside this house he designed for himself and his wife in Barcelona.

    Rumeu and his wife, the Madrid-born artist Beatriz Dubois, decided to move to the architect’s home city for work after living for several years in Paris.
    Bolívar House takes up a narrow site on Barcelona’s Carrer de BolívarThey purchased a site occupied by a derelict storage building in the Vallcarca district that was affordable due to its northern aspect, narrow proportions and busy urban context.
    Bolívar House is located on the Carrer de Bolívar and is surrounded by buildings from various eras, ranging from early 20th-century art nouveau houses to industrial workshops and 1970s apartment blocks.
    Three square openings animate its street-facing facadeIn this chaotic and energetic environment, Gurrea Rumeu’s practice Gr-os – working with local architects Mercè Badal and Teresa Rumeu – sought to create a restful retreat defined by its considered use of space and light.

    “Despite its complicated urban setting, surrounded by taller buildings and heavy traffic, the interior atmosphere is surprisingly peaceful,” Gurrea Rumeu told Dezeen.
    “The position and scale of openings frames views and curates intimacy and light.”
    Dark wood was used throughout to create a sense of calmThe building itself comprises a monolithic grey box punctured by three square openings, which animate its street-facing elevation while defining views from within.
    A concrete plinth becomes a column that supports a visible steel lintel, which also acts as a recessed channel to hold utility cables as they pass across the simple frontage.
    One of the building’s structural steel columns is left exposed on each levelThe exposed beam provides a subtle ornamental detail that references the facade composition and, in particular, the decorative frieze found on a traditional residence across the street.
    The house’s exterior is rendered using a textured stucco that evokes rustic Catalan properties called masias. According to the architect, this finish adds a textural element to the otherwise minimal elevation that recalls an artist’s brushstrokes.
    The dwelling shares its long and narrow site with a multi-storey apartment building, in which Gurrea Rumeu and Dubois were able to add a studio on the basement level.

    CRÜ transforms public laundry into La Clara house in Barcelona

    The studio is visible across a central courtyard separating it from the home’s kitchen and dining area, which also looks onto the lush tropical planting through a full-height opening.
    At the front of the property, a double-height concrete volume containing the garage and a stairwell provides an acoustic barrier between the living areas and the street.
    Three bedrooms and the main living room are accommodated on the first and second floors, with the bedrooms at the rear overlooking the tranquil courtyard.
    The kitchen opens onto a small courtyardDespite being a north-facing house, the design is not focused on capturing as much natural light as possible, Gurrea Rumeu explained, but rather on emphasising the moody atmosphere through careful material choices.
    “We decided to use honest and expressive materials which are pleasant for the senses and accentuate the value of shadows,” the architect pointed out.
    “In-situ concrete walls, dark walnut floors, white marble and glazed tiles create a rich atmosphere in which subtle changes of light become apparent throughout the day and the seasons.”
    Monolithic wooden staircases feature in the living room and the foyerGurrea Rumeu also used simple architectural interventions to amplify the sensorial experience within the home, with voids and openings allowing sunlight to illuminate the spaces in intriguing ways.
    Monolithic wooden staircases located in the entrance lobby and living room follow the home’s two main axes and add complexity to the circulation. Their bold presence helps to emphasise the volume of these double-height spaces.
    The majority of the building’s structure is left exposed, with services and false ceilings concentrated towards the centre of the plan.
    Concrete ceilings add a brutalist touchA central concrete core conceals the upper flights of stairs and supports the floor slabs, while one of the structural steel columns is left exposed on each level as a nod to the building’s construction.
    The columns become a feature in their respective rooms, becoming thinner higher up in the building as the load reduces.
    The property contains a limited and carefully curated selection of furniture including vintage pieces, bespoke elements and classic designs chosen for their special significance to the owners.
    Tiles complete the home’s tactile material paletteGurrea Rumeu received his master’s from the Royal College of Art in London before completing his Professional Practice diploma at the AA School of Architecture. He worked for firms in Beijing, Paris and Barcelona before establishing his own studio in 2020.
    Other recently completed homes in Barcelona include La Clara by CRÜ, which is set inside a former public laundry, and a brick extension to a 19th-century terrace house by H Arquitectes.
    The photography is by Max Hart Nibbrig.

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      External Reference uses 3D printing to create organic displays for La Manso store in Barcelona

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      3D-printed shelving structures informed by Catalan-modernist buildings were used for shelving in this store designed by External Reference for a Spanish jewellery brand.

      Experimental jewellery designer Adriana Manso asked Carmelo Zappulla’s studio External Reference to develop a suitably unusual interior concept for her first physical store in the city.
      The store is in the Eixample districtThe project involved designing a window display and shelving for the 25-square-metre store, which is located in Barcelona’s Eixample district just a few metres from the house where Manso was born.
      Manso is known for her playful pieces made from recycled plastic, which she wanted to display in a space that evokes the luxury feel of an haute-couture boutique.
      It features a 3D-printed interior informed by architectureExternal Reference sought to combine the contemporary plasticity of La Manso’s jewellery with motifs influenced by Barcelona’s early 20th-century architecture, including the building in which the store is situated.

      “Our design concept revolved around bringing the exterior facade inside, creating a melted and fluid background that would serve as an artistic canvas for showcasing the jewellery,” Zappulla told Dezeen.
      “By blending the expressive elements of Catalan modernism with the organic forms inspired by La Manso design, our goal was to craft a visually captivating environment that elevates the overall shopping experience.”
      External Reference created wavy shapes for the spaceThe designers selected fragments from the decorative facade and abstracted them using a process involving hand drawing and computational design techniques.
      In particular, floral details from the elaborate canopy at the store’s entrance were reinterpreted as large rosettes incorporating futuristic glitches and bas-reliefs.

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      The organic shapes form shelving units that range in height from 90 centimetres to 1.7 metres. Jewellery and accessories are displayed on the shelves, as well as on a small table at the centre of the space.
      The furniture was produced using a robotic 3D-printer and is made from biodegradable cellulose coloured using Pure Tech’s water-based CO2-neutralising paint.
      Zappulla and his team refined the digital models to optimise them for printing. This involved splitting them into manageable parts that could be processed by the machine’s robotic arm.
      The aim was to provide a neutral backdropAll of the printed elements are finished in a muted off-white shade that matches the rest of the interior and provides a neutral backdrop for displaying the jewellery.
      Large, mirrored surfaces help to make the interior feel more expansive, while spotlights provide targeted illumination for highlighting the collection.
      In addition to the main furniture, the designers also developed a window display and 3D-printed signage that extend the store’s conceptual design out into the street.
      The La Manso interior has a muted colour paletteLarge-scale 3D-printing technology offers designers possibilities to create unique elements for branded interiors, which makes it increasingly popular for retail spaces.
      Spanish design studio Nagami has created a store for sustainable clothing brand Ecoalf featuring transparent 3D-printed displays that recall melting glaciers, while Dutch architecture practice Studio RAP used the technology to produce a wave-like tiled facade for an Amsterdam boutique.
      The photography is by Anna Mas.

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      Mesura furnishes Casa Vasto apartment and gallery with “constellation of objects”

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      Local studio Mesura has designed a live-work home for a gallery owner that combines exhibition space with living quarters in a former factory in Barcelona.

      Casa Vasto is situated in the city’s seaside neighbourhood El Poblenou, characterised by its 18th-century industrial buildings that were deindustrialised in the 1960s and 70s.
      Unfurnished areas serve as exhibition spaceThe apartment is located in one of these former factories and comprises two spaces – the public living and kitchen area that also houses gallery exhibitions, and the private bedroom and bathroom that are reserved solely for the owner’s use.
      A service core made from birch wood divides the space without being attached to the walls or to the ceiling, which has an unusual vaulted design characteristic of factories built in Barcelona in the 19th century. This channels services to the kitchen and bathroom components and contains a toilet, shower and storage.
      Bespoke furniture sits alongside design classicsOn one side of the core is the living and gallery space. This has plenty of space to hold exhibitions and is filled with monolithic furnishings that create functional zones, including a long dining table with cylindrical legs and a blocky stainless-steel kitchen island.

      A low, sprawling sofa defines the lounge area, which centres around a coffee table fashioned from waste material created during the apartment’s construction by designer Sara Regal.
      Low-lying furnishings underline the height of the space and the unique ceilingArtworks and furniture have been arranged throughout the space, which was curated in collaboration between the owners and Mesura.
      “The project’s interior design is reinterpreted as a constellation of unique objects detached from the apartment’s limits,” said Mesura.
      “These elements contrast with the white-washed walls and light-wood furnishings to emerge as accents of colour and form, weaving a cohesive and contemporary identity throughout the project, drawing focus to the pieces and artwork.”
      The minimalistic kitchen unit shares the central core’s oblong profileBespoke pieces custom-made for Casa Vasto are flanked by iconic design classics, such as architect Mies van der Rohe’s MR10 Chair and architect Mario Botta’s Seconda Chai.
      “Some of the interior pieces were specifically designed for the space – kitchen, dining table, service core, bathtub – and the others – sofas, chairs, lighting – were more of a process with the clients, who had their own preferences and interests,” Mesura told Dezeen.

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      Frames are hung on the walls in the bedroom, which also contains two sinks and a bathtub encased in blocky concrete volumes.
      As in the rest of the space, rectangular windows extend from floor level to let natural light into the space.
      The bed, bath and sink unit are all custom-made for the project”We think the pieces selected for the interiors create a comfortable and unique atmosphere when in touch with the bespoke furniture we designed for the project,” the studio told Dezeen.
      Other adaptive reuse apartment projects on Dezeen include an apartment in a converted bank office by Puntofilipino and a flat in a former chocolate factory by SSdH.
      The photography is by Salva López.

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      El Departamento designs Barcelona eyewear store as a “challenging visual exercise”

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      Slight variations in tone and texture differentiate surfaces inside the PJ Lobster glasses store in Barcelona, which Spanish interiors studio El Departamento has finished entirely in green.

      The shop in the El Born district features walls, floors and stuccoed ceilings all covered in soft, tranquil tones of seafoam green, creating an immersive experience designed to challenge the eye.
      The PJ Lobster store in Barcelona is finished entirely in green”The human eye is able to distinguish more different shades of green than any other colour,” El Departamento told Dezeen. “That’s because, deep inside us, we’re still hunters from the prehistoric era.”
      “So that’s what we wanted to aim for here, not to hunt anything but to recover the challenging visual exercise of exploring a wide range of greens.”
      A glossy counter stands at the centre of the shopThe practice was also influenced by Charles and Ray Eames’s short film Powers of Ten, which explores the scales of the universe.

      This informed El Departamento’s study of different textures within the store “from macro to micro”, from the small-grained velvety micro-cement on the floor to the rough textured plaster that was applied to the wall by hand to achieve the right level of thickness.
      “We wanted to get to the last step, just before a texture becomes a topography,” the studio said. “It was done manually, carefully and step by step to achieve the perfect state.”
      The examination room is located at the rear of the storeStainless steel is another key player in the store, used to create banks of display shelving that frame each pair of glasses, with the soft sheen of the metal creating a striking contrast with the deliberately blobby texture of the walls behind.
      Another textural juxtaposition is provided by the large, capsule-like counter at the heart of the store with its high-shine gloss finish and mirrored top.

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      Further back in the store is an area dedicated to visual examinations, delineated by a shiny pleather curtain and a softer carpeted floor.
      The result, according to El Departamento, is “a vibrant space that swings between the soft and the hard, the rough and the velvety”.
      Glasses are displayed on stainless steel shelvesThe studio has been collaborating with PJ Lobster since the eyewear brand was founded in 2018 under the name Project Lobster, helping the company to expand from an online business into real-life stores.
      With this latest outpost, El Departamento wanted to encapsulate the evolution of the brand and its products.
      The examination room is hidden behind a shiny pleather curtain”We wanted to show that the brand has matured,” the studio said. “We tried to show somehow the organic evolution of the brand by giving this space a more technical and precise atmosphere, where the wide range of textures speaks of the precision levels of the products.”
      Other monochrome eyewear stores include Lunettes Selection in Berlin, which is enveloped by mint-green floor-to-ceiling cabinets, and Melbourne’s Vision Studio where cool-toned industrial materials such as aluminium and concrete are paired with grey marble surfaces.
      The photography is by José Hevia.

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      Isern Serra turns renderings into reality to form pink Moco Concept Store in Barcelona

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      Design studio Isern Serra has transformed a computer-generated image by digital artist Six N Five into a rose-coloured retail space for the Moco Museum in Barcelona.

      Situated in Barcelona’s El Born neighbourhood, the Moco Museum exclusively exhibits the work of modern artists such as Damien Hirst, Kaws, Yayoi Kusama and Jeff Koons.
      The institution’s eponymous concept store has a similarly contemporary offering, selling a mix of design, fashion and lifestyle goods.
      The store’s interior is completely covered in pink micro-cementIts surreal pink interior started out as a computer-generated image by Six N Five, a digital artist known for envisioning other-worldly dreamscapes in pastel hues.
      Barcelona-based design studio Isern Serra then brought the image to life, using pink micro-cement to achieve the same uniform, ultra-smooth surfaces seen in the drawing.

      Products are displayed inside huge circular display niches”The Moco Concept Store represented an interesting challenge, as I had to combine the purpose of the store with actual architecture remaining true to our original dreamy world I had built in CGI,” explained Six N Five, whose real name is Ezequiel Pini.
      “But these concepts were able to go one level further, both in decisions and execution, thanks to Isern Serra who brought its extraordinary talent and experience.”
      Arched and square niches have also been punctured into the wallsThe store’s rosy interior can be seen through two large openings in its facade – one of them is rectangular, while the other is slightly curved and contains the entrance door.
      A series of chunky columns run through the middle of the space. Surrounding walls have been punctured with arched, square and circular display niches, some of which are dramatically backlit.
      Rows of shelves and a frame for a tv screen have also been made to project from the wall.
      A faux skylight sits directly above pink display plinthsThe store’s largely open floor plan is only interrupted by a few pink cylindrical plinths used to showcase products, and a bespoke pink cashier desk with an integrated computer system.
      Custom spotlights have been installed on the ceiling, along with a faux skylight.
      The store’s custom furnishings, like the cashier desk, are also rendered in pinkAn increasing number of creatives are making their virtual designs a reality.
      Last year, digital artist Andres Reisinger collaborated with furniture brand Moooi to produce a physical version of his Instagram-famous Hortensia chair, which was initially a rendering.
      The piece is covered with 20,000 pink fabric petals, emulating the almost fluffy appearance of a hydrangea flower.
      In Sweden, designer Christoffer Jansson passed off a virtual apartment as an Instagram home renovation project.
      The photography is by Salva Lopez.
      Project credits:
      Authors: Six N Five and Isern SerraBuilder: Tegola Rosso SL

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      Raúl Sanchez Architects divides Barcelona apartment with 21-metre-long wooden wall

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      A lengthy walnut-panelled wall runs through the bright white living spaces inside this Barcelona apartment, renovated by local studio Raúl Sanchez Architects.

      The Girona Street apartment is set within a 19th-century building in Barcelona’s affluent Dreta de l’Eixample neighbourhood and belongs to a design-savvy couple with two young children.
      A 21-metre-long walnut-panelled wall runs the length of the Girona Street apartmentPrior to the renovation, the apartment contained a warren of small, dark living spaces bookended by an indoor patio and a sitting room that overlooks the street.
      Raúl Sanchez Architects connected these two rooms with a 21-metre-long wall that stretches from one end of the floor plan to the other. While the majority of surfaces in the apartment were rendered in white micro-cement, the wall is crafted from walnut wood.
      Spaces throughout are rendered in white micro-cement”I thought of a material, which could contrast the whiteness with elegance and warmth while also adding texture and ruggedness,” founder Raúl Sanchez told Dezeen.

      “We made several samples and trials until we got the right wood and the right porosity of walnut.”
      A blue-painted dining room lies next to the loungeA series of rooms run parallel to the wall, beginning with a dining area.
      Here, a section of the rear wall was painted dark blue and fitted with a built-in bench seat, while the floor was inlaid with a square patch of patterned hydraulic tiles.

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      Further along the hallway, a sitting area was created just in front of a pair of stained glass windows. This is followed by two bedrooms that are partially painted blue to match the dining area.
      One of them is fronted by a huge pivoting door that, like the apartment, is split into two sides. One half is clad with stainless steel and the other in brass.
      A sea-green kitchen is hidden behind doors in the walnut-wood wallMore rooms lie concealed behind the long walnut wall, each accessed via a discrete flush door. This includes a U-shaped kitchen, which was almost entirely painted a sea-green hue.
      There’s also a storage area, the family bathroom and the principal bedroom, where a floor-to-ceiling cream curtain helps conceal en-suite facilities.
      Other rooms in the Girona Street apartment are concealed behind flush doorsThe apartment’s indoor patio was freshened up, as was the street-facing sitting area. It now features a mint-green sideboard and bookshelf, as well as a decorative wall panel that mimics the brass-and-steel pivot door.
      More hydraulic tiles were also incorporated into the floor, this time in mismatch prints.
      Hydraulic floor tiles and mint-green furnishings feature in the living roomRaúl Sanchez Architects is behind a number of striking homes in Barcelona, aside from the Girona Street apartment.
      This includes BSP20 House with its towering spiral staircase and the Tamarit Apartment, which is decked out with clashing materials.
      The photography is by José Hevia.
      Project credits:
      Architecture: Raúl Sanchez ArchitectsTeam: Valentina Barberio, Paolo Burattini, Flavia Thalisa Gütermann, Dimitris Louizos, Albert MontillaStructure: Diagonal ArquitecturaEnginering: Marés IngenierosTextile design: Catalina Montaña

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      Energy-saving 10K House in Barcelona is a “labyrinth that multiplies perspectives”

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      Spanish studio Takk took cues from snugly stacked Russian dolls for the interior renovation of this Barcelona apartment, which features rooms nestled inside each other to maximise insulation.

      Called 10K House, the 50-square-metre apartment was renovated by Takk using a material budget of only 10,000 euros with the aim of updating the home to be as sustainable as possible.
      10K House is a residential interior design projectThe project was informed by concerns about climate change as well as the global energy crisis faced by homeowners and renters.
      Arranged across one open level, rooms were built “inside one another” in a formation that mimics the layers of an onion and places the rooms that require the most heat at the centre of the apartment, according to Takk.
      The bedroom is raised on recycled white table legs”This causes the heat emitted by us, our pets or our appliances to have to go through more walls to reach the outside,” principal architects Mireia Luzárraga and Alejandro Muiño told Dezeen.

      “If we place the spaces that need more heat – for example, the room where we sleep – in the centre of the Matryoshka [a Russian doll] we realise that we need to heat it less because the configuration of the house itself helps to maintain the temperature.”
      “The result is a kind of labyrinth that multiplies perspectives,” explained the architects, who designed the project for a single client.
      MDF was used throughout the apartmentRecycled table legs were used to elevate these constructed rooms to allow the free passage of water pipes and electrical fittings without having to create wall grooves, reducing the overall cost.
      For example, the raised central bedroom is clad in gridded frames of medium-density fibreboard (MDF) that are enveloped by slabs of local sheep’s wool – utilitarian and inexpensive materials that feature throughout the interior.
      “Despite being a small apartment, it is very complex to ensure that you never get bored of the space,” said Luzárraga and Muiño.
      The remnants of previous partitions were left exposedAfter demolishing the apartment’s existing internal layout, Takk chose not to apply costly and carbon-intensive coatings to the floors and walls.
      Rather, the architects scrubbed the space clean and left traces of the previous partitions and dismantled light fixtures visible, giving the apartment a raw appearance and maintaining a reminder of the original floor plan.
      The kitchen features a metallic sink and low-slung cabinetsThe kitchen is located in the most open part of 10K House, which includes timber geometric cabinetry and an exposed metallic sink.
      According to the architects, the open kitchen intends to act as a facility “without associated gender” and address stereotypes typically attached to housework.

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      “Traditionally, the kitchen has been understood as a space to be used mainly by women, whether they own the house or do domestic work,” reflected Luzárraga and Muiño.
      “This has meant that [historically] this space has been relegated to secondary areas of the house, poorly lit and poorly ventilated, especially in small homes.”
      “One way to combat this is by placing the kitchen in better and open spaces, so that everyone, regardless of their gender, is challenged to take charge of this type of task,” they added.
      10K House was constructed using CNC-milled componentThe dwelling was constructed using CNC-milled components that were cut prior to arriving on-site and assembled using standard screws.
      Takk chose this method to encourage DIY when building a home, and armed the client with a small instruction manual that allowed them to assemble aspects of the apartment themselves “as if [the apartment] were a piece of furniture”.
      Takk was informed by soaring energy prices when designing the project10K House is based on a previous project by the architecture studio called The Day After House, which features similar “unprejudiced” design principles, according to Luzárraga and Muiño.
      The architects – who are also a couple – created a winter-themed bedroom for their young daughter by inserting a self-contained igloo-like structure within their home in Barcelona.
      The photography is by José Hevia.

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      Isern Serra creates pared-back office “with seemingly surreal details” for Andrés Reisinger

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      Spanish architecture and interior design studio Isern Serra kept to a material palette of concrete, quartz and stainless steel to create this pared-back office for Reisinger Studio

      Located in the Poblenou neighbourhood in Barcelona, digital artist Andrés Reisinger’s studio is surrounded by several other creative’s offices and is designed to reflect the artist’s minimalist, dreamlike style.
      The Studio Reisinger office is designed to reflect the artist’s minimalist aesthetic”The concept behind the interiors of my studio was to create a space that complements and doesn’t compete with the uplifting spirit of my work,” Reisinger told Dezeen.
      “I wanted the studio to be like a canvas, with a kind of identity that I could play with,” he added. “The space is inspired by my work’s aesthetic, with seemingly surreal details amidst the light and bright studio.”
      Isern Serra left its raw concrete pillars intactPurchased as an empty shell, the Barcelona-based team decided to leave parts of the original space intact such as the concrete pillars while the ceiling was left exposed.

      Natural tones and textures were introduced through paint and flooring to create an airy and monochromatic yet soothing feel.
      A stainless steel kitchen is on the ground floor”First the colour and texture of the walls were chosen,” Isern Serra told Dezeen. “They are finished with a quartz-based paint in the form of a paste,” he added.
      “A natural finishing of micro-cement for the flooring was chosen to have the same tone and textured effect,” Serra said.
      A concrete table can be used for dining and workingThe team then went about filling the space with office equipment and furnishings, paying close attention to sourcing locally made items that reflect the sculptural work of Reisinger Studio.
      A large concrete table, which functions as a workspace and dining table was made on-site and stands in the middle of the studio.
      It was produced in a hue that sits between millennial pink and beige – a colour that has become synonymous with Reisinger’s work. A similar shade can be seen throughtout Reisinger and architect Alba de la Fuente’s virtual residence Winter House.

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      Around the table is a set of chrome metal stools custom-made by designer Julia Esque that complement the stainless steel staircase which curls up the floor above.
      Also in the area below the mezzanine, is a kitchen made entirely of stainless steel that features an integrated hydraulic push-to-open storage system.
      A millennial pink colour palette was used throughoutOn the upper floor, which is fronted by glass, Andrés Reisinger has a private office with a wooden desk for meetings. Plush pink seating here adds a touch of warmth. A separate shower and toilet are also situated on this floor.
      “The goal was to create a space that would inspire, rather than distract, from the work being produced,” explained Reisinger.
      “I imagined the studio as a blank canvas, a place where my team and I could come to experiment, evolve and grow our ideas and projects.”
      The office has a separate meeting roomArgentinian designer Andrés Reisinger founded Reisinger Studio in 2018. The artist is best known for the Hortensia chair, a bulbous pink armchair made with CGI that went viral on Instagram.
      He also made headlines for his collection of “impossible” virtual furniture, which sold for $450,000 at auction.
      The photos are courtesy of Reisinger Studio.

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      Parramon + Tahull adds tiled floors and bespoke joinery to refurbished Barcelona apartment

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      Barcelona studio Parramon + Tahull has renovated a traditional apartment in the city’s Gracia neighbourhood, adding birch plywood joinery and ceramic tiling to complement the building’s original features.

      The apartment is home to a family of four, which has lived there for several years and wanted to carry out a significant overhaul of the outdated interior.
      Parramon + Tahull has renovated an apartment in BarcelonaThe clients asked local architects Lluís Parramon and Emma Tahull to oversee the transformation of the space to provide an open living area and kitchen, along with separate bedrooms for each of their two daughters.
      The apartment is located on the upper floor of a five-storey building dating from the 1900s. A previous renovation undertaken around 20 years ago had altered the layout and destroyed most of the original features.
      The studio added bespoke joinery including a small built-in deskParramon + Tahull began by removing all of the existing partition walls in order to create a brighter and more practical series of spaces within the compact floor plan.

      The rearranged interior also provides plenty of usable storage and restores some of the original details, including wooden beams that had been painted white by the previous owners.
      Terracotta tiles cover floors throughout the apartment”We wanted to bring natural light into all the spaces and to achieve a sense of flowing, continuous space despite the limited surface area,” Tahull told Dezeen.
      “We were interested in working with natural materials and returning some of the original spirit of the building to the apartment.”
      Bespoke joinery is also provides storage in the bedroomsDue to its small size, the architects paid close attention to the choice of materials and layout in order to create a serene, spacious feel.
      “To achieve all the client’s goals, we had to work on a very precise scale of detail, designing all of the furniture to measure in order to take advantage of every square centimetre,” Tahull explained.

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      The interior utilises a palette of predominantly natural materials, chosen to complement the wooden beams while providing an element of tonal and textural contrast.
      Parramon + Tahull chose ceramic tiles from Spanish manufacturer Wow to create a continuous flooring surface throughout the entire apartment, including the kitchen and bathroom.
      Glossy white tiles clad the walls in the bathroom”We were looking for a small-format tile so the feeling of space would be bigger,” Tahull added. “We also wanted to play with a tapestry-like colour scheme that included white, because white gives a great luminosity and echoes the white of other elements.”
      The white and terracotta-coloured tiles include different formats, textures and surface finishes ranging from glossy to matte.
      White grout is used for the floors throughout the rooms, while the bathroom walls are clad in white tiles with contrasting reddish grout.
      Reddish grout provides a visual contrastBespoke fitted cabinetry made from birch plywood provides practical storage in every room, as well as in the hallway. Along with the tiles, the wood forms a consistent element that unites the spaces.
      Lluís Parramon and Emma Tahull founded their studio in 1997. The office focuses on delivering comfortable, contextual and energy-efficient architectural projects for private and commercial clients.
      The photography is by Judith Casas Sayós.

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