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    Curves and colour blocking feature in JJ16 apartment by Lucas y Hernández-Gil

    Madrid studio Lucas y Hernández-Gil has completed a family home that makes the most of every inch, with details including a yellow storage wall, a corridor kitchen and a hidden closet.

    JJ16 is a three-bedroom apartment in Madrid’s Salamanca district, but until recently it had been used as an office.
    JJ16 is a three-bedroom apartment for a family of fourLucas y Hernández-Gil, a specialist in interior architecture, converted the property back into a residence for a family that includes a mother, three teenage children and their dog.
    The challenge was not only to make it feel like a home again but also to create space for everyone’s personality within the 165 square-metre footprint.
    The kitchen occupies a corridor space between the entrance lobby and the living roomThe designers achieved this by combining space-saving strategies with statement details, providing both functionality and character.

    “Everyone had a clear idea of what they needed, which translated directly into the spaces,” said studio founders Cristina Domínguez Lucas and Fernando Hernández-Gil Ruano.
    “Far from generating a conflict, different colours and materials give the house a richness, a harmonic heterogeneity,” they told Dezeen.
    The room is defined by shades of soft pink and greyOptimising JJ16’s layout was crucial but difficult given the irregularity of the floor plan.
    Lucas y Hernández-Gil’s strategy was to make every space, including the corridors, as useful as possible.
    The utility area also occupies a corridor spaceThe kitchen now occupies a connecting space between the entrance lobby and the living room, freeing up space at the front of the apartment for a spacious main bedroom.
    Meanwhile, the corridor leading to the main bathroom and the third bedroom incorporates a mini library and a utility area.

    Lucas y Hernández-Gil splits moods inside Madrid duplex apartment

    “The main challenge was the deep layout and long corridor,” said the architects.
    “We provided circulation with content by creating spaces within it. This turned out to be one of the best design decisions of the project.”
    A curved wall frames the main bedroomCurved partitions create variety within JJ16’s layout. The largest of these separates the living room from the main bedroom, but other curves can be found in the second bedroom and a shower room.
    Many spaces have their own colours, which contrast with the bright white tones that otherwise dominate the interior.
    The third bedroom is a twin room with a hidden walk-in closetThe bright yellow bookshelf wall is the most striking, while the adjacent kitchen offers a two-tone effect with shades of soft pink and grey, and matt chrome finishes.
    Bedrooms have a minimal feel, but they boast colourful dressing rooms and en-suites. Bright orange was chosen for the hidden walk-in closet, located in the twin third bedroom, while deep purple adds a luxury feel in the main bedroom.
    Patterned tiles feature in the bathroom and en-suite areasFloor surfaces provide more visual interest. Living spaces feature oak parquet, while bathrooms are all finished with patterned cement tiles.
    This bold approach to colour and texture is a common feature in the work of Lucas y Hernández-Gil, whose other recent projects include the sunset-inspired Naked and Famous bar and the stylish Casa A12.
    The main bathroom also features a curved shower room”The approach to colour is a constant in our design process,” said Lucas and Hernández-Gil Ruano.
    “It is about activating spaces and achieving a warm and joyful domestic atmosphere.”
    The photography is by Jose Hevia.
    Project credits
    Architecture: Lucas y Hernández-GilCollaborators: Lucía Balboa, María Domínguez, Sara Urriza

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    Lucas y Hernández-Gil uses extreme colour blocking in Naked and Famous bar

    Madrid-based studio Lucas y Hernández-Gil has used reflective materials, neon lighting and sunset colours to create intense interiors for a bar in Seville.

    Called Naked and Famous, the bar contains a series of rooms that explore extremely different moods, thanks to varying colours, materials and lighting conditions.
    The bar features three distinctively different roomsAccording to architect Cristina Domínguez Lucas, co-founder of Lucas y Hernández-Gil, the aim was create to a visual experience that echoes the taste sensations of the various cocktails on offer.
    “We hope to intensify the experience of cocktail drinking by achieving an atmosphere of saturated tones where visual perception establishes connections with the sense of taste,” she told Dezeen.
    The design aims to intensify the experience of drinking cocktailsNaked and Famous is the latest venture from the team behind the popular Seville restaurant Casaplata, which opened in the Spanish city in 2018.

    While the cocktail bar has a similarly contemporary feel, with industrial-style materials and bold forms, the design is much more immersive.
    The entrance lobby is framed by mirror surfacesYou arrive via a mirror-lined lobby, intended to play with your perception of space.
    From here, a tall arched doorway leads through to a room where everything is a vivid shade of pink.
    The central room is a vivid shade of pinkThere are two more spaces to discover.
    One is a softly lit room coloured in midnight blue, described by Lucas as a space of  “silence and shadows”.

    Pastel furnishings contrast against concrete walls in Seville’s Casaplata restaurant

    The other is a laboratory-inspired room featuring a cocktail bar framed by metallic surfaces. Argon-blue lighting gives the room a turquoise glow.
    “Here we find ourselves surrounded by metalised tones and reflections, just as in a great cocktail shaker,” said Lucas.
    Another of the rooms is coloured in a midnight-blue toneThe design takes inspiration from the light artworks of Dan Flavin and James Turrell, as well as the paintings of Milton Avery. The colour palette is based on the colours of the sky during sunset hours.
    The lighting effects are amplified by the combination of multi-textural and see-through materials, particularly the corrugated and perforated metal that forms internal walls, and the acoustic foam on the ceiling.
    The bar is designed with a laboratory feelThe rooms have been furnished with bespoke tables and chairs designed by Lucas y Hernández-Gil’s furniture studio, Kresta Design.
    Based on the forms of kitchen utensils, these designs feature cone shapes, splayed legs, high-gloss surfaces and velvet upholstery.
    Argon-blue lighting is reflected around the spaceLucas and partner Fernando Hernández-Gil Ruano founded their studio in 2007.
    Other completed projects include the La Hermandad de Villalba guesthouse and the Juana Limón cafe in Madrid.
    The photography is by Juan Delgado.

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